Saturday, 3 July 2010

From August 1803, Wellesley's army and a separate force under the command of his subordinate Colonel James Stevenson had been pursuing the Maratha cavalry-based army which threatened to raid south into Hyderabad. After several weeks of pursuit and countermarching, Scindia reinforced the combined Maratha army with his Europeanised infantry and artillery as the British forces closed in on his position.Wellesley received intelligence indicating the location of the Maratha encampment on 21 September and devised a plan whereby his two armies would converge on the Maratha position three days later. Wellesley's force, however, encountered the Maratha army – which was under the command of Colonel Anthony Pohlmann – 6 miles (9.7 km) farther south than he anticipated. Although outnumbered, Wellesley resolved to attack at once, believing that the Maratha army would soon move off. Both sides suffered heavily in the ensuing battle; Maratha artillery caused large numbers of casualties among Wellesley's troops but the vast numbers of Maratha cavalry proved largely ineffective. A combination of bayonet and cavalry charges eventually forced the Maratha army to retreat with the loss of most of their guns, but Wellesley's army was too battered and exhausted to pursue.

Wellesley's victory at Assaye, preceded by the capture of Ahmednagar and followed by victories at Argaon and Gawilghur, resulted in the defeat of Scindia and Berar's armies in the Deccan. Wellesley's progress in the Deccan was matched by Lieutenant General Gerard Lake's successful campaigns in Northern India and led to the British becoming the dominant power in the heartlands of India.

picture wellesley: Lord Mornington, the Governor-General of British India between 1798 and 1805, oversaw a rapid expansion of British territory in India.

Feuding between the two dominant powers within the Maratha Confederacy, Yashwant Rao Holkar and Daulat Rao Scindia, led to civil war at the turn of the 19th century. The hostilities culminated in the Battle of Poona in October 1802 where Holkar defeated a combined army of Scindia and Baji Rao II – the Peshwa and nominal overlord of the Confederacy. Scindia retreated into his dominions to the north, but Baji Rao was driven from his territory and sought refuge with the East India Company at Bassein. He appealed to the Company for assistance, offering to accept its authority if he were restored to his principality at Poona. Lord Mornington, the ambitious Governor-General of British India, seized on the opportunity to extend Company influence into the Confederacy which he perceived as the final obstacle to British paramountcy over the Indian subcontinent.

The Treaty of Bassein was signed in December 1802 whereby the Company agreed to restore Baji Rao in return for control over his foreign affairs and a garrison of 6,000 Company troops permanently stationed in Poona. The restoration was commanded by Lord Mornington’s younger brother, Major General Arthur Wellesley, who in March 1803 marched on Poona from Mysore with 15,000 Company troops and 9,000 Hyderabad allies. Wellesley entered Poona without opposition on 20 April, and Baji Rao was formally restored to his throne on 13 May.

The treaty gave offence to the other Maratha leaders, who deemed that the system of subsidiary alliances with the British was an unwarranted interference into their affairs and fatal to the independent Maratha states. The Maratha leaders refused to submit to the Peshwa's authority and tensions were raised further when Holkar raided into Hyderabad in May, claiming that the Nizam of Hyderabad (a British ally) owed him money. Mornington consequently engaged the various Maratha chieftains in negotiations.

Lieutenant Colonel John Collins was sent to Scindia's camp to discuss his objections and propose a defensive alliance. However, Scindia had formed a military alliance with the Rajah of Berar in view to bringing the Maratha leaders into a coalition against the British, and had begun to mass his forces on the Nizam's border. Wellesley, who had been given control over the Company's military and political affairs in central India in June, demanded Scindia declare his intentions and withdraw his forces or face the prospect of war. After a protracted period of negotiations, Collins reported to Wellesley on 3 August that Scindia refused to give an answer and would not withdraw his troops. Wellesley's response was to declare war on Scindia and Berar "in order to secure the interests of the British government and its allies".The East India Company attacked the two principal Maratha forces of Scindia and the Raja of Berar from the north and the south. Of the other Maratha leaders, Holkar was hesitant to enter the war in cooperation with his rival, Scindia, and remained aloof from the hostilities, and the Gaekwad of Baroda placed himself under British protection. Operations in the north were directed by Lieutenant General Gerard Lake who entered Maratha territory from Cawnpore to face Scindia's main army which was commanded by the French mercenary, Pierre Perron. A second British force under the command of Major General Wellesley confronted a combined army of Scindia and Berar in the Deccan.

Wellesley was determined to gain the initiative through offensive action and told his senior subordinate, Colonel James Stevenson, that "a long defensive war would ruin us and will answer no purpose whatever".The Maratha army in the Deccan was largely composed of fast-moving cavalry able to live off the land. Consequently, Wellesley planned to work in conjunction with a separate force under Colonel Stevenson to enable his slower troops to out-manoeuvre the Maratha army and force it into a position where it could not avoid a pitched battle. Stevenson was despatched from Hyderabad with an army of some 10,000 men to Jafarabad to deny Scindia and Berar the chance to raid east into the Nizam's territory. In the meantime, Wellesley moved north from his camp near the Godavari River on 8 August with some 13,500 troops and headed towards Scindia's nearest stronghold – the walled town and fort at Ahmednuggur. The bulk of his forces were Company troops from Mysore: five sepoy infantry battalions of the Madras Native Infantry and three squadrons of Madras Native Cavalry. A contingent of European troops were supplied by the British Army and included cavalry from the 19th Light Dragoons and two battalions of Scottish infantry from the 74th and 78th Regiment of Foot. Irregular light cavalry were also provided by the Company's Mysore and Maratha allies.

Wellesley reached Ahmednuggur later the same day after a 7-mile (11 km) march and immediately ordered an escalade assault on the town rather than enter into a time-consuming siege.

The walled town, which was garrisoned by 1,000 Arab mercenaries, upwards of 60 cannon and one of Scindia’s infantry battalions under the command of French officers, was captured with minimal losses after a brief action. The adjacent fort's defenders capitulated four days later once the walls were breached by British artillery. With the fortification providing a logistics base and point of support for future operations into Maratha territory, Wellesley installed a garrison and headed north towards the Nizam's city of Aurungabad. Along the way he captured Scindia’s other possessions south of the Godavari and established a series of guarded bridges and ferries along the river to maintain his communication and supply lines.

Map of the Assaye campaign

The Marathas slipped past Stevenson and advanced on Hyderabad. After receiving reports of their movement on 30 August, Wellesley hurried east down to the Godavari to intercept. Stevenson, meanwhile, marched westwards to the Maratha city of Jalna which he took by storm. Scindia learned of Wellesley's intentions and returned to a position north of Jalna. Unable to make a clean break from the pursuing British he abandoned plans to raid into Hyderabad and instead assembled his infantry and artillery. The combined Maratha army was around 50,000 strong, the core of which was 10,800 well equipped regular infantry organised into three brigades, trained and commanded by European adventurer and mercenary officers. Colonel Anthony Pohlmann, a Hanoverian and former East India Company sergeant, commanded the largest brigade with eight battalions. A further brigade with five battalions was provided by Begum Samru, and was commanded on her behalf by a Frenchman, Colonel Jean Saleur.

The third brigade had four battalions and was commanded by Dutchman, Major John James Dupont. In addition, the Maratha force included 10,000–20,000 of Berar's irregular infantry, some 30,000–40,000 irregular light cavalry and over 100 guns ranging in size from one to 18-pounders.After several weeks of chasing down the Maratha army, Wellesley and Stevenson met at Budnapoor on 21 September and received intelligence that the Maratha army was at Borkardan, around 30 miles (48 km) to the north. They agreed a plan by which their two armies – moving separately along either side of a range of hills with Wellesley to the east and Stevenson to the west – would converge on Borkardan on 24 September. Wellesley's force reached Paugy on the afternoon of 22 September and departed camp before dawn. By noon, the army had marched 14 miles (23 km) to Naulniah, a small town 12 miles (19 km) south of Borkardan, where they intended to rest before joining Stevenson to attack the Maratha army the next day.

At this point, Wellesley received further intelligence that rather than being at Borkardan, the Maratha army was camped just 5 miles (8.0 km) north, but their cavalry had moved off and the infantry were about to follow.At about 13:00, Wellesley went forward with a cavalry escort to reconnoitre the Maratha position. The rest of his army followed closely behind apart from a battalion of sepoys left at Naulniah to guard the baggage. In all, Wellesley had 4,500 troops at his disposal plus 5,000 Mysore and Maratha horse and 17 cannon. Aware that the British were nearby, The Maratha chiefs had positioned their army in a strong defensive position along a tongue of land stretching east from Borkardan between the Kailna River and its tributary the Juah. However, Scindia and Berar did not believe Wellesley would attack with his small force and had moved off from the area in the morning. Command of their army was given to Pohlmann, who had positioned his infantry to the east of the Maratha camp in the plains around the village of Assaye on the southern bank of the Juah.

To his surprise, Wellesley found the entire combined army before him. Nevertheless, he resolved to attack at once, believing that if he waited for Stevenson, the Marathas would have the chance to slip away and force the pursuit to drag on. Wellesley was also eager to forge a reputation for himself, and despite his numerical disadvantage, he was confident that the Maratha’s irregular forces would be swept aside by his disciplined troops, and only Scindia’s regular infantry could be expected to stand and fight.

Pohlmann struck camp and deployed his infantry battalions in a line facing southwards behind the steep banks of the Kailna with his cannon arrayed directly in front. The great mass of Maratha cavalry was kept on the right flank and Berar's irregular infantry garrisoned Assaye to the rear.

The only observable crossing point over the river was a small ford directly ahead of the Maratha position. Pohlmann's strategy was to funnel the British and Madras troops across the ford into the mouth of his cannon, and then on to the massed infantry and cavalry behind. Wellesley's local guides assured him that no other ford existed nearby, but he quickly discarded the option of a frontal assault as suicide. While reconnoitring he had noticed two unguarded villages, Peepulgaon and Waroor, one on each bank of the Kailna beyond the Maratha left. On the assumption that a ford must exist between the two villages, Wellesley ordered the area to be further reconnoitred by his Chief Engineer, Captain John Johnson, who reported that there was indeed a ford at that spot.

Thus Wellesley led his army east to the crossing in an attempt to launch an attack on Pohlmann's left flank. At around 15:00, the British crossed to the northern bank of the Kaitna unopposed apart from a distant harassing fire from the Maratha cannon which was largely inaccurate but succeeded in decapitating Wellesley's dragoon orderly. Once across, Wellesley ordered his six infantry battalions to form into two lines, with his cavalry as a reserve in a third.

His allied Maratha and Mysore cavalry were ordered to remain south of the Kaitna to keep in check a large body of Maratha cavalry which hovered around the British rear. Pohlmann soon recognised Wellesley’s intentions and swung his infantry and guns through 90 degrees to establish a new line spread approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) across the isthmus with their right flank on the Kaitna and the left on Assaye. Although the new position secured the Maratha flanks, it restricted Pohlmann from bringing his superior numbers into action.The Maratha redeployment was swifter and more efficient than Wellesley had anticipated and he immediately reacted by extending his front to deny Pohlmann the opportunity to out-flank him. A battalion of pickets and the 74th Highlanders, which formed the right of the first and second lines, were ordered to move obliquely to the right. This allowed the 78th to anchor the left flank and Madras infantry battalions (the 1/10th, 1/8th, 1/4th and 2/12th) to form the centre of the British line.

Wellesley's intention was to force back the Marathas from their guns and then – operating by his left to avoid the heavily defended Assaye – throw them back on the Juah and complete their destruction with his cavalry.Map of the battle. The British and Indian infantry move forward to attack the redeployed Maratha line.The Maratha cannonade intensified as the British redeployed. Although British artillery was brought forward to counter, it was ineffective against the mass firepower of the Maratha guns and quickly disabled through the weight of shot directed against it. British casualties mounted as the Maratha guns turned their attention to the infantry and subjected them to a barrage of canister, grape and round shot. Wellesley decided that his only option to neutralise the artillery and get his men out of the killing field was to advance directly into the mouth of the Maratha artillery. He ordered his cannon to be abandoned and gave the command for his infantry to march forward with bayonets fixed.

The Maratha cannonade punched holes in the British line, but the infantry maintained a steady pace, closing up the gaps in their ranks as they advanced. The 78th Highlanders were the first to reach the enemy in the southern sector next to the River Kailna. They paused 50 yards (46 m) from the Maratha gunners and unleashed a volley of musket fire before launching into a bayonet charge. The four battalions of Madras infantry to the right of the 78th, accompanied by the Madras Pioneers, reached Pohlmann's line shortly afterwards and attacked in the same fashion. The gunners stood by their cannon but were no match for the bayonets of the British and Madras troops who swiftly pressed on towards the Maratha infantry. However, instead of meeting the charge, the Maratha right broke and fled northwards towards the Juah, causing the rest of the southern half of the line to follow. The officers of the Madras battalions temporarily lost control as the sepoys, encouraged by their success, pushed too far pursuit. Maratha cavalry momentarily threatened to charge but were checked by the 78th who remained in order and re-formed to face the danger.

In the northern sector of the battle field however, Wellesley's right flank was in turmoil. The commander of the pickets, Lieutenant Colonel William Orrock, had mistaken his orders and continued his oblique path directly towards Assaye. Major Samuel Swinton of the 74th regiment was ordered to support the pickets and followed close behind. This created a large gap in the centre of the British line, and brought the two battalions under a barrage of cannonade from the artillery around the village and the Maratha left. The two battalions began to fall back in disarray and Pohlmann ordered his remaining infantry and cavalry forward to attack. The Marathas gave no quarter; the pickets were virtually annihilated but the remnants of the 74th were able to form a rough square behind hastily piled bodies of dead.

Realising that the destruction of his right would leave his army exposed and out-flanked, Wellesley ordered a detachment of British cavalry under Colonel Patrick Maxwell consisting of the 19th Light Dragoons and elements of the 4th and 5th Madras Native Cavalry into action. From their position at the rear, the cavalry dashed directly towards the 74th's square, crashed into the swarming attackers and routed them. Maxwell pressed his advantage and continued his charge into the Maratha infantry and guns on the left, driving them backwards and across the Juah "with great slaughter".A number of Maratha gunners who had feigned death when the British advanced over their position re-manned their guns and began to pour cannon fire into the rear of the 74th and Madras infantry. Wellesley ordered his four sepoy battalions to re-form and ward off any threat from the Maratha infantry and cavalry while the 78th were sent back to retake the Maratha gun line. Wellesley, meanwhile, galloped back to 7th Madras Native Cavalry, which had been held back in reserve to the east, and led a cavalry charge from the opposite direction. The gunners again stood their ground but were eventually driven from their guns and this time it was ensured that all those who remained were dead.

While Wellesley was preoccupied with re-taking the gun line, Pohlmann rallied his infantry and redeployed them into a semicircle with their backs to the Juah; their right flank across the river and their left in Assaye. However, most of the Maratha cannon, which had inflicted heavy losses on Wellesley's infantry, had been captured or lay abandoned on the battlefield. Reluctant to join the fray, the Maratha cavalry lingered in the distance to the west. Most were Pindarries: loosely organised and lightly armed horsemen whose traditional role was to cut down fleeing enemy troops, harass convoy lines and carry out raids into enemy territory. They were not trained to attack well-formed infantry or heavily armed European cavalry, and did not play a further part in the battle.With the remanned Maratha artillery silenced, Wellesley turned his attention to Pohlmann's reformed infantry. Although Maxwell had suffered heavy losses, he had rallied his cavalry and returned to the field of battle. Wellesley ordered him to charge the Maratha left flank, while the infantry moved forward as a single line to meet the centre and right. The cavalry spurred forward but were met with a volley of canister shot which struck Maxwell, killing him instantly. Their momentum lost, the cavalry did not complete their charge but veered away from the Maratha line at the last moment.

The British and Madras infantry marched on against the Maratha position but Pohlmann's men, their morale low, did not wait for the attack and instead retreated northwards across the Juah. Descriptions differ as to the manner of their departure: Maratha sources claim the line marched away from the battlefield in an orderly manner on Pohlmann's orders but British accounts claim the Maratha infantry fled in an uncontrolled panic. Berar's irregulars inside Assaye, now leaderless and having witnessed the fate of the regular infantry, abandoned the village and marched off northwards at around 18:00, followed shortly afterwards by the Maratha cavalry. Wellesley's troops, however, were exhausted and in no condition to pursue and the native allied cavalry which had remained on the south bank of the Kailna and had not been engaged, refused to pursue without the support of the British and Madras cavalry

Assaye elephant emblem awarded to the Madras Sappers

The East India Company and British Army casualties amounted to 428 killed, 1138 wounded and 18 missing; a total of 1,584 – over a third of the force engaged in combat. The 74th and the picket battalion were decimated; from a strength of about 500, the 74th lost ten officers killed and seven wounded, and 124 other ranks killed and 270 wounded. The pickets lost all their officers except their commander, Lieutenant Colonel William Orrock, and had only about 75 men remaining. Of the ten officers forming the general's staff, eight were wounded or had their horses killed. Wellesley himself lost two horses; the first was shot from underneath him and the second was speared as he led the charge to re-capture the Maratha gun line. The number of Maratha casualties is more difficult to ascertain.

Despatches from British officers give a figure of 1,200 dead and many more wounded but contemporary historians have estimated a total of 6,000 dead and wounded. The Marathas also surrendered seven stands of colours, large amounts of stores and ammunition and 98 cannon – most of which were later taken into service by the East India Company. Although Scindia and Berar's army was not finished as a fighting force, several of Scindia's regular infantry battalions and artillery crews had been destroyed. Their command structure had also been damaged: many of their European officers, including Colonel Pohlmann and Major Dupont, surrendered to the Company – which had offered amnesty to Europeans in the service of the Maratha armies – or deserted and sought employment with other native chieftains. The sound of the guns at Assaye was heard by Stevenson who immediately broke up his camp 10 miles (16 km) miles to the west in an attempt to join the battle.

However, he was misled by his guide and marched first on Borkardan before he reached the battlefield on the evening of 24 September. Suspecting that his guide had intentionally led him astray, Stevenson later had him hanged. He remained with Wellesley to assist with the wounded – troops were still being carried from the battlefield four days after the engagement – until ordered to recommence the pursuit of the Maratha army on 26 September. Wellesley remained to the south while he established a hospital at Ajanta and awaited reinforcements from Poona. Two months later, he combined with Stevenson to rout Scindia and Berar's demoralised and weakened army at Argaon, and shortly afterwards stormed Berar's fortress at Gawilghur. These victories, coupled with Lieutenant General Lake's successful campaign in the north, induced the two Maratha chiefs to sue for peace.

Wellesley later told Stevenson that "I should not like to see again such a loss as I sustained on the 23rd September, even if attended by such a gain", and in later life he referred to Assaye as "the bloodiest for the numbers that I ever saw". Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Munro, the Company's district collector at Mysore, was critical of the high proportion of casualties and questioned Wellesley's decision not to wait for Stevenson. He wrote to Wellesley: "I am tempted to think that you did it with a view of sharing the glory with the smallest numbers". In response, Wellesley politely rebuffed Munro's accusations and defended his action as necessary because he had received and acted upon incorrect intelligence regarding the Maratha position.

Assaye was 34-year-old Wellesley's first major success and despite his anguish over the heavy losses, it was a battle he always held in the highest estimation. After his retirement from active military service, the Duke of Wellington (as he later became known) considered Assaye the finest thing he ever did in the way of fighting even when compared to his later military career.

Lord Mornington and his Council lauded the battle as a "most brilliant and important victory", and presented each of the Madras units and British regiments involved in the engagement with a set of honorary colours. The British regiments and native units were also awarded the Assaye battle honour and most were later given permission to adopt an Assaye elephant as part of their insignia.

A public monument was also erected by the East India Company at Fort William, Calcutta to commemorate the victory. The 74th Regiment of foot later became known as the Assaye regiment due to their stand at the battle and their modern-day successors, the Royal Highland Fusiliers (2 SCOTS), still celebrate the anniversary of the battle each year. Of the native infantry battalions, In the Indian Army, only the Madras Sappers survive in their original form but do not celebrate Assaye as it has been declared a repugnant battle honour by the Government of India.

Sandes, Lt Col E.W.C. (1933), The Military Engineer in India, Vol I, Chatham, Great Britain: Institution of the Royal Engineers Sandes, Lt Col E.W.C. (1948), The Indian Sappers and Miners, Chatham, Great Britain: Institution of the Royal Engineers Severn, John Kenneth (2007), Architects of Empire: The Duke of Wellington and His Brothers, Oklahoma City: University of Oklahoma Press, ISBN 0806138106

Singh, Sarbans (1993), Battle Honours of the Indian Army 1757–1971, New Delhi: Vision Books, ISBN 81-7094-115-6

The events depicted in the Sharpe stories also take this "brilliant but wayward" soldier into conflicts other than the Napoleonic wars, for example the earliest tales take us to India under the command of the East India Company and chronicle Sharpe's years spent in the ranks.During the late 18th Century, The British Empire would be found in a great many parts of the globe and one particular jewel in the crown was India. In the stories, Sharpe serves four years as Armoury Sergeant in Seringapatam, which was the location in 1799 of a hugely significant battle.The Battle of Seringapatam was important because it was the final confrontation between the British and Tipu Sultan, the Tiger of Mysore, who was killed when the British broke into the fortress. Because of the British victory, the fate of India changed forever, as did English dominance in the continent.Being a fictional hero, Sharpe's creator Cornwell frankly admits he has taken license with history, often placing Sharpe in the place of another man whose identity is lost to history. These achievements include killing the Tipu Sultan at Seringapatam, saving Wellesley's life at the Battle of Assaye and personally taking command of a regiment that drives off the French Imperial Guard at Waterloo.However, the fact that the character of Sharpe is so closely intertwined with such key events in European history means that the series has great opportunities to reveal the bloodshed, drama and European politics that erupted during this period, while at the same time spinning more cracking good swashbuckling yarns than you can shake a sword at! The Siege of Seringapatam (4 May 1799) was the final confrontation of the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War between the British East India Company and the Kingdom of Mysore. The British achieved a decisive victory after breaching the walls of the fortress at Seringapatam (as Srirangapatna was then known) and storming the citadel. Tippu Sultan, Mysore's ruler, was killed in the action. The British restored the Wodeyar dynasty to the throne after the victory, but retained indirect control of the kingdom.

The battle consisted of a series of encounters around Seringapatam (as Srirangapatna was then called) in the months of April and May 1799, between the combined forces of the British East India Company and their allies, numbering over 50,000 soldiers in all, and the soldiers of the Kingdom of Mysore, ruled by Tippu Sultan, numbering up to 30,000. The Fourth Anglo-Mysore War came to an end with the defeat and death of Tippu Sultan in the battle.When the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War broke out, the British assembled two large columns under General George Harris. The first consisted of over 26,000 British East India Company troops, 4,000 of whom were European while the rest were local Indian sepoys. The second column was supplied by the Nizam of Hyderabad, and consisted of ten battalions and over 16,000 cavalry. Together, the allied force numbered over 50,000 soldiers. Tippu's forces had been depleted by the Third Anglo-Mysore War and the consequent loss of half his kingdom, but he still probably had up to 30,000 soldiers.

Seringapatam was besieged by the British forces on 5 April 1799. The River Cauvery, which flowed around the city of Seringapatam, was at its lowest level of the year and could be forded by infantry — if an assault commenced before the monsoon. When letters were exchanged with Tippu, it seemed that the Sultan was playing for time. He requested two persons to be sent to him for discussions and also stated that he was preoccupied with hunting expeditions. Tippu Sultan's prime minister, Mir Saadiq, was a traitor bought by the British. He pulled out the Mysore army for paying wages in the midst of the battle, thus allowing British forces to storm the boundary wall with little defence. Another key treachery to help the British was the spilling of water in the basements where the Sultan's army stored its gunpowder, which rendered the gunpowder useless.

The Governor-General of the East India Company, Richard Wellesley, planned the opening of a breach in the walls of Seringapatam. The location of the breach, as noted by Beatson, the author of an account of the Fourth Mysore War, was 'in the west curtain, a little to the right of the flank of the north-west bastion. This being the old rampart appeared weaker than the new.' The Mysorean defence succeeded in preventing the establishment of a battery on the north side of the River Cauvery on 22 April 1799. However, by 1 May, working at night, the British had completed their southern batteries and brought them up to the wall. At sunrise on 2 May, the batteries of the Nizam of Hyderabad succeeded in opening a practical breach in the outer wall. In addition, the mines that were laid under the breach were hit by artillery and blew up prematurely.

The leader of the British troops was Major General David Baird, an implacable enemy of the Sultan: twenty years earlier, he had been held captive by the Sultan for 44 months. The storming troops, including men of the 73rd and 74th regiments, clambered up the breach and fought their way along the ramparts. After the Company troops had taken the city, the Sultan's body was found among the dead, shot in the head and stripped of his jewels.The assault was to begin at 1:00 p.m. to coincide with the hottest part of the day when the defenders would be taking refreshment. Led by two forlorn-hopes, two columns would advance upon the defences around the breach, then wheel right and left to take over the fortifications. A third reserve column, commanded by Arthur Wellesley would deploy as required to provide support where needed.At 11:00 a.m., on 4 May 1799, the British troops were briefed and whisky and a biscuit issued to the European soldiers, before the signal to attack was given. The forlorn-hopes, numbering seventy-six men, led the charge. The columns quickly formed, were ordered to fix bayonets, and began to move forward. The storming party dashed across the River Cauvery in water four feet deep, with covering fire from British batteries, and within 16 minutes had scaled the ramparts and swept aside the defenders quickly.The column that rounded the northwest corner of the outer wall was immediately involved in a serious fight with a group of Mysorean warriors under a short fat officer, which defended every traverse. The officer was observed to be discharging loaded hunting weapons, passed to him by servants in his service, at the British. After the fall of the city, in the gathering dusk, some of the British officers went to look for the body of Tippu Sultan. He was identified as the fat officer who had fired hunting weapons at the offenders, and his body was found in a choked tunnel-like passage near the Water Gate.

The Siege is depicted in:

Wilkie Collins's novel The Moonstone begins with the looting of the jewels removed from Seringapatam in 1799 from the legendary treasury of Tippu Saltan. The Battle of Seringapatam was adapted, and was the main conflict in the novel Sharpe's Tiger by Bernard Cornwell.Two cannon captured by the British during the battle are now placed in front of the officers mess at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.Elizabeth Longford (Elizabeth Harman Pakenham, Countess of Longford), 1996, Wellington: The Years of the Sword, Smithmark Pub, New York, ISBN 978-0831756468. Jac Weller, 2006, Wellington in India, Greenhill Books, London, ISBN 978-1853673979

Srirangapattana (Kannada: ಶ್ರೀರಂಗಪಟ್ಟಣ) (also spelled Srirangapatna; anglicized to Seringapatam during the British Raj) is a town in Mandya district of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located near the city of Mysore and is of great religious, cultural and historic importance.Although situated a mere 19 km from Mysore city, Srirangapattana lies in the neighbouring district of Mandya. The entire town is enclosed by the river Kaveri to form an island, northern half of which is shown in the image to the right. While the main river flows on the eastern side of the island, the Paschima Vaahini segment of the same river flows to its west.

Ranganatha Temple

Srirangapattana has since time immemorial been an urban center and place of pilgrimage. During the Vijayanagar empire, it became the seat of a major viceroyalty, from where several nearby vassal states of the empire, such as Mysore and Talakad, were overseen. When, perceiving the decline of the Vijayanagar empire, the rulers of Mysore ventured to assert independence, Srirangapattana was their first target. Raja Wodeyar vanquished Rangaraya, the then viceroy of Srirangapattana, in 1610 and celebrated the Navaratri festival in the town that year. It came to be accepted in time that two things demonstrated control and signified sovereignty over the Kingdom of Mysore by any claimant to the throne:Successful holding of the 10-day-long Navaratri festival, dedicated to Chamundeshwari, patron goddess of Mysore; Control of the fort of Srirangapattana, the fortification nearest to the capital city of Mysore. Srirangapattana remained part of the Kingdom of Mysore from 1610 to after India's independence in 1947; as the fortress closest to the capital city of Mysore, it was the last bastion and defence of the kingdom in case of invasion.

View of the Hoally Gateway, where Tipu Sultan was killed, Seringapatam (Mysore).

Srirangapattana became the de facto capital of Mysore under Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan. When Tipu finally dispensed with the charade of deference to the legitimate Wodeyar Maharaja who was actually his captive, and proclaimed the "Khudadad State" under his own kingship, Srirangapattana became de jure the capital of that short-lived political entity. In that heady period, the state ruled by Tipu extended its frontiers in every direction, encompassing a major portion of South India. Srirangapattana flourished as the cosmopolitan capital of this powerful state. Various Indo-Islamic monuments that dot the town, such as Tipu Sultan's palaces, the Darya Daulat and the Jumma Maseedi (Friday congregational mosque), date from this period.

Flintlock Blunderbuss Tipoo Sahib Seringapatam 1793 1794

Srirangapattana was the scene of the last and decisive battle fought between Tipu Sultan and a combined force of 50,000 men provided equally by the Nizam of Hyderabad and the British under the overall command of General Harris. This battle was the last engagement of the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War. The Battle of Seringapatam, 1799, was truly momentous in its historic effects.

In any event, Tipu Sultan was killed within the fort of Srirangapattana, betrayed infamously by one of his own confidants; the spot where he ultimately fell is marked by a memorial. For the last time in history, Srirangapattana had been the scene of political change in the Kingdom of Mysore. The joint forces of the victorious army proceeded to plunder Srirangapattana and ransack Tipu's palace. Apart from the usual gold and cash, innumerable valuables and objets d'art, not excepting even the personal effects of Tipu Sultan, his rich clothes and shoes, sword and firearms, were shipped to England.While most of this is now to be found in the British Royal Collection and in the Victoria and Albert Museum, some articles have occasionally become available at auctions and have been retrieved for their native land. The sword of Tipu Sultan has been acquired by Vijay Mallya, a liquor baron from Karnataka, who purchased the same at a Sotheby's auction.

Tippu Mausoleum

The fall of Srirangapattana to the Wodeyar dynasty in 1614 is much celebrated in local ballad and legend, one of which concerns a curse put upon the Wodeyars by Alamelamma, the lamenting wife of the defeated Vijayanagar viceroy. In fulfillment of that curse, no ruling Maharaja of Mysore has ever had children; the succession has inevitably devolved upon brothers, nephews or adopted heirs, or on children born to the Maharaja before his accession, but never has a child been born to a ruling Maharaja.

Friday, 2 July 2010

Sharpe's Tiger is Bernard Cornwell's return to the Richard Sharpe series of novels, set during his early years in India. This is Cornwell's device to find prequel material for his hero. First published in 1997, more novels were to follow, both in India and the Western theatre of the Napoleonic Wars.The first (chronologically) of the Richard Sharpe series, and of the Sharpe India trilogy, by the English author Bernard Cornwell. It takes place in Mysore, India and tells of Sharpe's adventures and triumphs against the Tipu Sultan during the Siege of Seringapatam.

Plot summary

Up to this time Cornwell had been going back through the period of the Napoleonic Wars to find new incidents into which to place his hero. Rather than do this, he adopts a "prequel" approach and uses an earlier campaign period in the history of the British Army, that of colonial India.The novel opens with Richard Sharpe serving as a private with the British army, then invading Mysore and advancing on the Tippoo Sultan's capital city of Seringapatam. Sharpe is contemplating desertion with his paramour, widow Mary Bickerstaff. His sadistic company sergeant, Obadiah Hakeswill, deliberately provokes Sharpe into attacking him, and engineers the virtual death sentence of 2,000 lashes for the private. But Sharpe is rescued by Lieutenant William Lawford after 200 lashes are inflicted, in order to effect a rescue mission behind the Tippoo's lines.Lawford and Sharpe are ordered to pose as deserters to rescue Colonel Hector McCandless, chief of the British East India Company's intelligence service. Although Lawford is nominally in command, Sharpe quickly dominates the lieutenant by force of personality and, without authorization, brings Mary on the mission. Joining the Tippoo's army, they discover that the Tippoo has set a trap for the invading British by mining the weakest (and thus most inviting) portion of Seringapatam's walls.Before Sharpe and Lawford can discover a way to transmit a warning to the British, they are betrayed by Sergeant Hakeswill. Hakeswill has been captured in battle and the Tippoo orders him made a human sacrifice for victory, but Hakeswill secures the Sultan's mercy in exchange for revealing Sharpe's and Lawford's identity as spies.Sharpe and Lawford are imprisoned as the British army prepares to assault the booby-trapped wall of the city. Mary helps Sharpe to escape, and Sharpe blows up the mine before the main British army can enter the trap. As the Tippoo tries to flee the city, Sharpe finds him in a dark tunnel, kills him, and steals his rich jewels. Sharpe throws Hakeswill to the Tippoo's tigers, but the recently fed animals ignore Hakeswill, and Sharpe's enemy survives to plague him in later adventures.

Characters in "Sharpe's Tiger"

Richard Sharpe – the main protagonist.

William Lawford – Sharpe's lieutenant who aids him in freeing Colonel McCandless.

Mary Bickerstaff – a widowed half-Indian army wife, now attached to Sharpe.

Colonel Arthur Wellesley – later 1st Duke of Wellington.

Colonel Hector McCandless – Scots intelligence officer for the East India Company, held captive by Tipoo Sultan in the dungeons of Seringapatam.

Tippoo Sultan – the Indian King who is killed by Sharpe. His red ruby and some of his other jewels are stolen by Sharpe.

Sharpe's Fortress is the third (historically) of the Richard Sharpe series, and last of the Sharpe India trilogy, by English author Bernard Cornwell. It tells the story of ensign Sharpe, during the battle of Argaum and the following siege of the Fortress of Gawilghur in 1803.

plot

It is 1803 and Sir Arthur Wellesley’s army is closing on the retreating Mahrattas in western India. Marching with the British is Ensign Richard Sharpe, newly made into an officer and wishing he had stayed a sergeant. Spurned by his new regiment, he is sent to the army’s baggage train and there finds corruption, romance, treason and enemies old and new. Sergeant Hakeswill wants Sharpe dead, and Hakeswill has powerful friends while Sharpe has only an orphaned Arab boy as his ally.And waiting with the cornered Mahrattas is another enemy, the renegade Englishman, William Dodd, who does not envisage defeat, but only a glorious triumph. For the Mahrattas have taken refuge in Gawilghur, the greatest stronghold of India, perched high on its cliffs above the Deccan Plain. Who rules in Gawilghur, it is said, rules India, and Dodd knows that the fortress is impregnable. There, behind its double walls, in the towering twin forts, Sharpe must face his enemies in what will prove to be Wellesley’s last battle on Indian soil.

Without doubt the most popular of Wellington's Generals among both officers and enlisted men, Rowland Hill was born on the 11th August 1772, the second son of a Shropshire gentleman. He joined the Army in 1790 and like many officers of the time transferred between regiments to gain promotion although he did spend 2 years at a military school in Strasbourg. His abilities quickly got him noticed and he became Lieutenant-colonel of the 90th Regt in 1794 which he commanded in Egypt in 1801. He was also present during the first British victories in the Peninsular and was to return to fight in the Peninsular War. Wellington regarded him as highly dependable and trustworthy and this is shown by the commands Wellington gave him including watching his flank while he besieged Badajoz. In 1812 Hill was promoted to Lieutenant-general and gained entry to the Order of the Bath. Again Hill's corps protected Wellingtons flank while he besieged Badajoz for the final time. When the Salamanca campaign began he was protecting the armies rear against any attack by Soult. These vital roles of protecting the Army while other Generals may have sought glory shows the high degree of trust Wellington had in the intelligent and thoughtful Hill. Hill commanded a corps through the campaigns of 1813-14 fighting at Vittoria (1813). Daddy Hill gained his nickname due to his charitable nature be it with friend or foe, enlisted or officer. After the Peninsular War he fought at Waterloo commanding the 2nd and 4th Divisions and leading the counter attack against the Imperial Guard in the closing stages, having his horse shot form under him for his trouble. After Waterloo he served with the Army of occupation until 1818 when he retired. When Wellington became Prime Minister in 1828 he became Commander-in-chief of the army and was to continue in this role for 14 years until he died in 1842.

'Black Bob' Crauford was one of Wellington's most able commanders during the Peninsula War. Born the 3rd son of a Sir Alexander Crauford a Scottish baronet he was to become a fine general who was a serious student of military science and a consummate professional.A fluent German speaker, renown for his sarcasm and violent temper he found throughout his early career that advancement was slow. He served (on attachment) with several foreign armies in places as far afield as India to the Netherlands gaining much first hand experience of continental warfare. In 1807 he took part in the attack on Buenios Aires but could gain no glory when the ill fated expedition collapsed. By 1808 he was commanding a brigade in the Peninsula. From 1809 to 1812 he commanded the Light Brigade, an elite formation of some of the best infantry units in the British army at that time. He had high standards and was the master of detail, at times he was like a spider at the centre of a web of scouts that detected the slightest movement. Despite his ability his temper and over confidence often proved a problem and he could not be trusted to follow Wellington's orders to the letter and could get him into trouble, as he did in 1810 by engaging Neys Corps on the wrong side of the river Coa. On 19th January 1812 he led his troops into the lesser breach of the fortress of Cuidad Rodrigo where he was wounded and after 5 days of agony finally died.

Bernard Cornwell

Author

Bernard Cornwell: Biography (short)

Bernard Cornwell OBE (born 23 February 1944) is an English author of historical novels. He is best known for his novels about Napoleonic Wars rifleman Richard Sharpe which were adapted into a series of Sharpe television films.

BiographyCornwell was born in London in 1944. His father was a Canadian airman, and his mother was English, a member of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force. He was adopted and brought up in Essex by the Wiggins family, who were members of the Peculiar People, a strict Protestant sect who were pacifists banned frivolity of all kinds and even medicine. After he left them, he changed his name to his mother's maiden name, Cornwell.
Cornwell was sent away to Monkton Combe School, attended the University of London, and after graduating, worked as a teacher. He attempted to enlist in the British armed services at least three times, but was rejected on the grounds of myopia.
He then joined BBC's Nationwide and was promoted to become head of current affairs at BBC Northern Ireland. He then joined Thames Television as editor of Thames News.[1] He relocated to the United States in 1980 after marrying an American. Unable to get a Green Card, he started writing novels, as this did not require a work permit.
As a child, Cornwell loved the novels of C.S. Forester, chronicling the adventures of fictional British naval officer Horatio Hornblower during the Napoleonic Wars, and was surprised to find that there were no such novels following Lord Wellington's campaign on land. Motivated by the need to support himself in the U.S. through writing, Cornwell decided to write such a series. He named his chief protagonist Richard Sharpe, a rifleman involved in most major battles of the Peninsular War.
Cornwell wanted to start the series with the Siege of Badajoz but decided instead to start with a couple of "warm-up" novels. These were Sharpe's Eagle and Sharpe's Gold, both published in 1981.[2] Sharpe's Eagle was picked up by a publisher, and Cornwell got a three-book deal. He went on to tell the story of Badajoz in his third Sharpe novel Sharpe's Company published in 1982.
Cornwell and wife Judy co-wrote a series of novels, published under the pseudonym "Susannah Kells". These were A Crowning Mercy, published in 1983, Fallen Angels in 1984, and Coat of Arms (aka The Aristocrats) in 1986. (Cornwell's strict Protestant upbringing informed the background of A Crowning Mercy, which took place during the English Civil War.) He also published Redcoat, an American Revolutionary War novel set in Philadelphia during its 1777 occupation by the British, in 1987.
After publishing 8 books in his ongoing Sharpe series, Cornwell was approached by a production company interested in adapting them for television. The producers asked him to write a prequel to give them a starting point to the series. They also requested that the story feature a large role for Spanish characters to secure co-funding from Spain. The result was Sharpe’s Rifles, published in 1987 and a series of Sharpe television films starring Sean Bean.[3]
A series of contemporary thrillers with sailing as a background and common themes followed: Wildtrack published in 1988, Sea Lord (aka Killer's Wake) in 1989, Crackdown in 1990, Stormchild in 1991, and a political thriller called Scoundrel in 1992.
In June 2006, Cornwell was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's 80th Birthday Honours List.[4]
Cornwell's latest work is titled Azincourt and was released in the UK in October 2008. The protagonist is an archer who participates in the Battle of Agincourt, another devastating defeat suffered by the French in the Hundred Years War. [5] However it not is about Thomas of Hookton from The Grail Quest or any of his relatives.

Novel seriesThe Sharpe storiesCornwell's best known books feature the adventures of Richard Sharpe, an English soldier during the Napoleonic Wars.
The first 12 books of the Sharpe series (beginning in chronological order with Sharpe's Rifles and ending with Waterloo, sometimes published as Sharpe's Waterloo) detail Sharpe's adventures in various Peninsular War campaigns over the course of 12 years. Subsequently, Cornwell wrote a prequel trilogy - Sharpe's Tiger, Sharpe's Triumph, and Sharpe's Fortress - depicting Sharpe's adventures under Wellington's command in India, including his hard-won promotion to the officer corps.
He also wrote Sharpe's Battle, a novel "inserted" into his previous continuity, taking place during the Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro. Cornwell was initially dubious about the casting of Sean Bean for the television adaptations, but was subsequently so delighted that he dedicated Sharpe's Battle to him, and has admitted that he subtly changed the writing of the character to align with Bean's portrayal.[6]
The following is the correct 'historical' order, although they are all stand alone stories:
Sharpe's Tiger: Richard Sharpe and the Siege of Seringapatam, 1799
Sharpe's Triumph: Richard Sharpe and the Battle of Assaye, September 1803
Sharpe's Fortress: Richard Sharpe and the Siege of Gawilghur, December 1803
Sharpe's Trafalgar: Richard Sharpe and the Battle of Trafalgar, October 1805
Sharpe's Prey: Richard Sharpe and the Expedition to Copenhagen, 1807
Sharpe's Rifles: Richard Sharpe and the French Invasion of Galicia, January 1809
Sharpe's Havoc: Richard Sharpe and the Campaign in Northern Portugal, Spring 1809
Sharpe's Eagle: Richard Sharpe and the Talavera Campaign, July 1809
Sharpe's Gold: Richard Sharpe and the Destruction of Almeida, August 1810
Sharpe's Escape: Richard Sharpe and the Bussaco Campaign, 1810
Sharpe's Fury: Richard Sharpe & the Battle of Barrosa, March 1811
Sharpe's Battle: Richard Sharpe and the Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro, May 1811
Sharpe's Company: The Siege of Badajoz, January to April 1812
Sharpe's Sword: Richard Sharpe and the Salamanca Campaign, June and July 1812
Sharpe's Skirmish (short story): Richard Sharpe and the defence of the Tormes, August 1812
Sharpe's Enemy: Richard Sharpe and the Defense of Portugal, Christmas 1812
Sharpe's Honour: Richard Sharpe and the Vitoria Campaign, February to June 1813
Sharpe's Regiment: Richard Sharpe and the Invasion of France, June to November 1813
Sharpe's Christmas (short story), 1813
Sharpe's Siege: Richard Sharpe and the Winter Campaign, 1814
Sharpe's Revenge: Richard Sharpe and the Peace of 1814
Sharpe's Waterloo: Richard Sharpe and the Waterloo Campaign, 15 to 18 June 1815
Sharpe's Ransom (short story, appears in Sharpe's Christmas)Sharpe's Devil: Richard Sharpe and the Emperor, 1820-21

The Starbuck ChroniclesA tetralogy set during the American Civil War. The title character, Nathaniel Starbuck, is a Northerner who has decided to fight for the South in a Virginian regiment, the Faulconer Legion. The last novel to date in the series has been The Bloody Ground, taking place during the Antietam Campaign. Cornwell has said that he plans to write more Starbuck novels, but has not done so yet.

The Warlord ChroniclesA trilogy depicting Cornwell's "historical" re-creation of Arthurian Britain. The series postulates that Post-Roman Britain was a difficult time for the native Britons, being threatened by invasion from the Anglo-Saxons in the East and raids from the Irish in the West. At the same time, they suffered internal power struggles between their petty kingdoms and friction between the old Druidic religion and newly-arrived Christianity.

The Grail Quest novelsA trilogy that deals with a mid-14th century search for the Holy Grail during the Hundred Years' War. An English archer, Thomas of Hookton, becomes drawn into the quest by the actions of a mercenary soldier called "The Harlequin," who murders Thomas's family in his own obsessive search for the Grail.
Cornwell was planning at one point to write more books about the main character Thomas of Hookton and said that shortly after finishing Heretic he had "... started another Thomas of Hookton book, then stopped it - mainly because I felt that his story ended in Heretic and I was just trying to get too much from him. Which doesn't mean I won't pick the idea up again sometime in the future." [7]

The Saxon StoriesThe Last Kingdom
The Pale Horseman
The Lords of the North
Sword Song
Cornwell's latest series focuses on the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex, England during the 9th-century reign of Alfred the Great, his fierce opposition to the Danes (Vikings), and his determination to unite England as one country. According to Cornwell's replies on his website bulletin board, the series will not be a trilogy like his medieval works, but will have 3 or 4 more sequels: "I'm not sure how many there will be - perhaps seven? maybe eight?"[8]
The latest in the series, titled The Burning Land, is likely to be released in Britain in October 2009 and January 2010 in the US.[9]

Global Net Audio

My Name is Tim Mason and I have a website called global-net-audio.com. I specialise in down loadable audio books ,37 of which are by Bernard Cornwell. They are down loadable in MP3 format so you can listen while commuting to work, walking,laying on a beach or on CD in the car. The titles will be kept in a personal library for so you can always down load them again, there's a good "help" section and you can always ask questions.
You can also "Hear a sample" of a book before you purchase.
If you would like to download any books by Bernard Cornwell, or any author for that matter, and would like a 20% reduction then please key in the Coupon Code 248866 at the point of purchase.

Comment

Sir Walter Scott, commenting on the abdication of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1814, wrote:
Although I never supposed that he [Napoleon] possessed, allowing for some difference of education, the liberality of conduct and political views which were sometimes exhibited by old Haidar Ally, yet I did think he [Napoleon] might have shown the same resolved and dogged spirit of resolution which induced Tipu Sahib to die manfully upon the breach of his capital city with his sabre clenched in his hand

The Sharpe Companion by Mark Adkin

A detailed historical and military guide to the best selling Sharpe Novels by Bernard Cornwell

The Sharpe Companion: The Early Years by Mark Adkin Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks (May 10, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0060738146
ISBN-13: 978-0060738143
Named "the direct heir to Patrick O'Brian" by The Economist, Bernard Cornwell is the undisputed master of historical battle fi ction, and for more than twenty years, his Richard Sharpe series has thrilled millions of readers worldwide on both the page and on television.
Now author Mark Adkin, a major in the British army, has created this indispensable guide covering Sharpe's early career, from his beginnings as an illiterate private fighting on the battlefields of India to his legendary command of the Light Company.
A treasure not only for fans of the series but also for anyone interested in nineteenth-century warfare, The Sharpe Companion includes:
A chapter devoted to each
Sharpe book
Glossary of characters, both real and fictional
Illustrations and photographs
Maps of every battle and skirmish
Full of fascinating historical details, thrilling contemporary accounts of actual battles, and impeccable research, The Sharpe Companion is a must for every student of military history and an essential addition to every Sharpe fan's library.

The Sharpe Companion

The Sharpe Companion: A Detailed Historical and Military Guide to Bernard Cornwell's Bestselling Series of Sharpe Novels

Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd (May 2, 2000) Language: English
ISBN-10: 0002571587
ISBN-13: 978-0002571586
An indispensable historical and military literary guide for the thousands of fans of Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series. Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series is one of the best known and bestselling military series ever. The adventures of Richard Sharpe and co. in the Peninsular War and on the Indian continent have thrilled hundreds of thousands of readers over the years and over sixteen books. Now comes the book that Cornwell's fans have been waiting for: the definitive guide to the historical and military background to the characters and events of the Sharpe novels. Compulsively readable, exhaustively detailed, with a chapter devoted to each book and a complete glossary of characters, both real and fictional, this guide will be a must for every devoted reader of Sharpe. Complete with black and white plates of famous battle scenes and characters, exquisite line drawings and complete maps of every battle and skirmish fought in by Richard Sharpe, The Sharpe Companion is a wonderful and necessary addition to every Sharpe library.

Sharpe Series

Canon to the right of me

Battles

The following is a time line of events.
india
1784 - Parliamentary Board of Control is established to deal with political matters, the appointment of officials (except the very highest) and the management of business is left entirely in the hands of the East India Company, an arrangement that remains in force until 1858.
1792 - War breaks out with the Tippoo Sahib of Mysore. The Tippoo is forced to surrender half his dominions.
1799 - At the instigation of the French, the Tippoo takes up arms again. Seringapatam is captured, the Tippoo slain and the rest of his dominions pass into English control.
1803 - The occupation of Mysore brings the English into contact with the Mahratta States, which extend from the Deccan plains to Delhi.
1803 - 5 - First Mahratta War. English victories under Wellesley at Assaye and Lake at Laswaree establish an English protectorate over the Mahrattas.

the peninsula
1807 - Napoleon determines on the annexation of Spain and Portugal. Junot with 30,000 men enter Portugal, and the Portuguese Government flee to Brazil.
1808 - Charles IV of Spain and his Ferdinand are induced to abdicate in favour of Joseph Bonaparte. In turn, Joseph is forced to evacuate Madrid in the face of Spanish insurrections.Wellesley lands in Portugal and defeats Junot at Rolica and Vimeiro. The French agree to evacuate Portugal under the Convention of Cintra.Moore is forced to retreat to the coast by Soult, whom he defeats at Corunna (Jan 1809), but is himself killed in the battle.
1809 - The French army under Marshal Soult threaten Oporto, another under Marshal Victor moves down the Tagus. Wellesley drives Soult from Oporto and turns southwards to defeat Victor at Talavera. The victory is rendered fruitless by the arrival of Soult and his re-organised army. Wellesley retires to Portugal, where he contructs the Lines of Torres Vedras, anticipating a French invasion.
1810 - Marshal Massena invades Portugal with 65,000 men, is defeated by Wellington at Busaco and retreats from Torres Vedras.
1811 - Graham defeats Victor at Barossa.Wellington prepares to invade Spain and forms the seiges of Almeida and Badajoz, both on the frontier and held by the French.Massena, advancing to relieve Almeida, is checked by Wellington at Fuentes d'Onoro, and the fortress surrenders.Soult attempts to raise the seige at Badajoz, but is defeated by Beresford (owing to the stubborn bravery of the British troops) at Albuera, but the fortress at Badajoz is saved by the French.
1812 - Wellington suddenly storms Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz and invades Spain. He defeats Marmont at Salamanca and occupies Madrid. Soult's approach from Andalusia means Wellington has to fall back to Portugal.
1813 - The french troops are weakened in numbers and quality due to Napoleon's campaign in Russia. Wellington decides to strike at the frontier of France. The French armies falling back before him are defeated at Vitoria, and again in the Battle for the Pyrenees, they are forced back into France, closely followed by Wellington.
1814 - English victories at Orthes and Toulouse. Napoleon abdicates.

the hundred days
The Congress of Vienna is interrupted with the news that Napoleon has escaped from Elba, landed in France and the French king, Louis XVIII, has taken refuge in Brussels.A general invasion of France is agreed. The British, under Wellington, and the Prussians, under Blucher are to advance from Belgium, and the other allies from the Rhine. Organising the allies takes some time and Napoleon is able to make the first move by attacking Belgium.The allied troops need to be spead over a long line of frontier, the British from Antwerp to Charleroi and the Prussians from Charleroi to Liege.
June 15 - Napoleon collects his army on the Sambre, attacks the Prussians at Charleroi and drives them back towards Ligny.
June 16 - 17 - The Prussians are able to concentrate at Ligny and the British at Quatre Bras. Napoleon is slow to attack, and appears to wait until midday. Ney just manages to hold his own against the British and Napoleon succeeds in forcing the Prussians from Ligny. The success would be decisive except that both the Emperor and Ney summon d'Erlon's corps of 20,000. D'Erlon is confused by the contradictory orders and stays put. Napoleon makes a fatal error in the direction of the Prussian retreat. He sends Grouchy with 30,000 men to Namur, but Blucher has retreated to Wavre. The British and Belgians retire to Waterloo, ground that Wellington has selected.
June 18 - The Battle of Waterloo
The British troops are posted on high ground from Hougemont, behind La Haye Sainte to Papelotte. The French are on the hills opposite, from Hougemont, past La Belle Alliance, to Frichermont.There has been heavy rain overnight and Napoleon chooses not to attack until almost midday. The lost hours prove to be important as Grouchy has not held the Prussians and three quarters of their force is now marching from Wavre towards Waterloo.Napoleon directs his first assault against the Chateau of Hougemont . He believes capturing this is a preliminary to the main attack. He did not take into account British stubborness in its defence and troops are engaged there all day. In the end, the French fail to capture the Chateau.At half past one, d'Erlon leads an attack on the British left between Papelotte and La Haye Sainte. The French are driven back with heavy losses.From four to six o'clock, assaults, led by Marshal Ney, are directed against the British right centre (to the west of the Charleroi road). Now the approach of the Prussians towards Plancenoit was clear and Napoleon has to cover his line of retreat. He sends some battalions of the Imperial Guard against the Prussians, troops that would be invaluable to Ney. Ney's cavalry has spent itself against British infantry squares to little effect.Between seven and eight o'clock, Napoleon orders a general assault on the British position. Ney leads the Old Guard, but is repulsed. The battle is over.
About nine o'clock, Wellington and Blucher meet at La Belle Alliance. There are heavy losses on all sides: British 13,000, Prussians 7,000, French 25-30,000.There is nothing to stop the allied advance to Paris, which they reach on July 7th.After abdicating in Paris on June 22nd, Napoleon flees to Rochefort and surrenders to the captain of the British man-of-war Bellerophon. Later he is exiled to St Helena in the South Atlantic where he eventually dies.

a glossary of military terms & relevant information

Aide de Camp Junior staff officer attached to a marshal or general

Anfrancesados Spanish natives who collaborated with the French

Baker Rifle Rifle used by Sharpe and all British rifle battalions during the Peninsular War. The rifle had a 30 inch, seven groove, quarter turn barrel and was accurate up to 250 yards although it was slow to load.

Banquette Firing step behind a parapet

Bastion Defensive work with two front faces forming a salient from the curtain wall, to allow flanking fire along the wall.

Brigade Tactical military formation of about 3000 men and containing 2 or 3 battalions.

Brown Bess Nickname of the British smoothbore musket, originally applied to the Long Land Pattern musket. Caçadores Portuguese rifle- or infantrymen. Uniforms were brown. Translation = 'hunter' Caltrop A four pointed metal spike that was thrown on the ground, always with one spike upright. Used against cavalry horses.

Canister Artillery projectile of lead balls in a tin container. Resembled a giant shotgun cartridge and had similar effect over a short range.

Carcass Incendiary or illuminating shell of oil soaked hay, fired from a mortar or howitzer.

Chasseur Light troops. Translation = 'hunter' Cheval de Frise Portable barrier of sword blades used to block breaches. Could also be made of stake- or sword studded beams.

Chosen Man Title given to a corporal in the 95th Rifles.

Colours Battalion flags which represented the honour of the unit. Usually each battalion held the King's Colour (Union Flag) and the regimental colour.

Company Basic military unit of about 50 to 100 men and commanded by a captain.

Congreve's Rockets Invented by Sir William Congreve. They looked like overgrown fireworks, were extremely erratic and not used a great deal, although Wellington used them occasionally in the Peninsula and at Waterloo.

Corps Military formation of 2 or 3 divisions commanded by a general.

Counterguard Earthwork to protect the base of a curtain wall.

Counterscarp Vertical face of a ditch around a fort on the outer side.

Crapaud French meaning 'toad', used by the British of the French in general.

Cuirassier French armoured heavy cavalry. The cuirass being a breastplate.

Cunette/Cuvette Deep narrow ditch, often filled with water, in the main defensive ditch of a fort.

Curtain Wall or Curtain Main wall surrounding a fort.

Demi Brigade French military formation consisting of part regular and part conscript battalions.

Division Large military formation of about 4000 to 6000 men, containing 2 or 3 brigades and commanded by a lieutenant general.

Dragoons Originally mounted infantry, they usually carried curved sabres, carbines and pistols.

Eagle French equivalent of the British colours. Presented to all regiments by the Emperor.

Enfilade Adjective used to describe fire coming from the flank and raking the length of a formation.

Ensign Infantry second-lieutenant.

Escalade Attack on walls of a fort using ladders.

Forlorn Hope First storming party into a breach, usually volunteers under a junior officer, who drew enemy fire. Officers and sergeants who survived were usually rewarded with promotion.

Goddam Dates from the Hundred Years War, French nickname for the British troops taken from their extensive use of the expression. Gonfalon Banner or standard.

Gorget The crescent-shaped plaque worn around the neck by officers, a symbol of a commisioned rank and a relic from the days of armour.

Grapeshot Close range artillery ammunition

Guerilla 'little war', also a term for partisan fighters

Half Pay An officer holding a commision, but unemployed, received half pay.

Howitzer Short barrelled cannon designed for high angle fire. Imperial Guard Napoleon's elite formation of veteran troops. Kings German Legion (KGL) Formed from the old Electorate of Hanover's army after Napoleon overran the country in 1803.

Kligenthal Hand forged sword all made from one piece of steel, strong and durable.

Light Company British company composed of agile men and good marksmen, used as skirmishers. Were relied upon to use their initiative more than line troops.

Loophole Small hole un a wall, allowing defenders to fire out.

Magazine Storage place for munitions or a soldier's supplementary ammunition container.

Necessaries Issued items of personal kit.

Nock Gun 7 barrelled volley gun given to Sgt Harper by his friend Richard Sharpe. Made by Henry Nock of London and originally made for the Royal Navy.

Parole System of releasing prisoners of war.

Pelisse Hussar jacket with fur trim sometimes worn over one shoulder.

Picket (Piquet) Infantry outpost or sentry.

Provost Early military police, commanded by a Provost Marshall, universally unpopular throughout the army, but supported by Wellington.

Ravelin Triangular outwork, built in a ditch of a fort to split the attacking force and cause confusion.
Regiment In the British Army, an administrative military unit which recruited soldiers and sent them to war in battalions. Usually two battalions to a regiment.
Roundshot Projectile of cannon, simple iron balls, they were the main cannon ammunition in the field.
Sapper Originally a soldier who dug narrow siege-trenches (or saps), but later became a generic term for engineers and those trained in siege operations.
Shako Peaked, cylindrical hat, usually made of felt and often black. Worn by all armies in the Napoleonic wars.
Shell Artillery ammunition. Hollow iron ball filled with gunpowder which exploded by means of a fuse.
Stock Leather collar worn around the neck under the jacket collar. British infantry wore them and they were universally disliked. Can also mean a fabric strip worn around the neck. Subaltern Junior officer of ensign or lieutenant rank in the British Army.
Voltiguer Light infantry companies of line battalions. Translation = 'vaulter'.

Tipoo Sultan

India

Sultan Tipoo Blunderbuss

did not help him

Sharpe's India and more

The events depicted in the Sharpe stories also take this "brilliant but wayward" soldier into conflicts other than the Napoleonic wars, for example the earliest tales take us to India under the command of the East India Company and chronicle Sharpe's years spent in the ranks.
During the late 18th Century, The British Empire would be found in a great many parts of the globe and one particular jewel in the crown was India. In the stories, Sharpe serves four years as Armoury Sergeant in Seringapatam, which was the location in 1799 of a hugely significant battle.
The Battle of Seringapatam was important because it was the final confrontation between the British and Tipu Sultan, the Tiger of Mysore, who was killed when the British broke into the fortress. Because of the British victory, the fate of India changed forever, as did English dominance in the continent.
Being a fictional hero, Sharpe's creator Cornwell frankly admits he has taken license with history, often placing Sharpe in the place of another man whose identity is lost to history. These achievements include killing the Tipu Sultan at Seringapatam, saving Wellesley's life at the Battle of Assaye and personally taking command of a regiment that drives off the French Imperial Guard at Waterloo.
However, the fact that the character of Sharpe is so closely intertwined with such key events in European history means that the series has great opportunities to reveal the bloodshed, drama and European politics that erupted during this period, while at the same time spinning more cracking good swashbuckling yarns than you can shake a sword at! The Siege of Seringapatam (4 May 1799) was the final confrontation of the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War between the British East India Company and the Kingdom of Mysore. The British achieved a decisive victory after breaching the walls of the fortress at Seringapatam (as Srirangapatna was then known) and storming the citadel. Tippu Sultan, Mysore's ruler, was killed in the action. The British restored the Wodeyar dynasty to the throne after the victory, but retained indirect control of the kingdom.

Watch Tower at Gawilghur Fort

towards heaven

Lake inside Gawilghur Fort

plenty of water

Bernard Cornwell News

Only Two years to the next Uhtred noevelComments: Received you latest Uhtred book, 'The Burning Land', this morning. Just finished reading it. I'll probably read it many times (along with the others in the series), until its successor is written/released. I feared that this would be the last of the series, but happily this is not so. I realise it has to happen at some point, but look forward to the next. Just another 2 years to wait..... again. Thank you for the hours of literary entertainment you've given me. Bob Quickenden.

Bernard Cornwell's new Saxon Series Novel Burning LandDue in Uk 1st October; US January.It will be a special during its launch in October through Waterstones and can be ordered now at a reserve price of £3.

Bernard Cornwell Dines at the CitadelMay 4, 2004The British author, Bernard Cornwell, visited the Halifax Citadel National Historic Site of Canada yesterday evening as a guest of the Board of the Halifax Citadel Regimental Association (HCRA) and the officers and NCOs of the 78th Highlanders. In Halifax for a reading from the latest novel in his series featuring the adventures of the 19th century rifleman Richard Sharpe, Cornwell was treated to a repast of Beef Wellington in the Soldier's Library. Later in the evening, flanked by sentries from the 78th, the author unveiled his new book, entitled "Sharpe's Escape" at the Cambridge Military Library in R.A. Park just across from Citadel Hill.

Questions and Answers

Q: Hey Bernard! I just finished reading Sword Song and, like the rest of the Uhtred books, I loved it! However, there is something that kind of troubles me. I understand that Uhtred is a pagan and doesn't believe in God or Christian faith, and that you yourself were unfortunate enough to be raised by over zealous Christian parents, but not all of us are nut-bags like Asser or Erkenwald! Most of us are like Pyrlig (my favourite character by the way =D) or Willibald. I just hope that you don't hold any sort of resentment towards Christians. I didn't find anything in the FAQ about what your current religious standing may be, so for all I know, I'm wasting my time with this. Anyway, love the books, keep writing them, and I'll keep buying them! Andrew K.A: I give you good Christians and bad. There were some ghastly clerics, really horrible people! But I do try to be balanced, despite my distaste for all religions.

Q:Dear Mr Cornwell, Ive read all of your books and love every single one of them, the stories of Uhtred are the ones that I love most. Ive just finished reading The Burning Land and loved it, although I do get frustrated at his treatment from the church and ultimately Alfred, sometimes I wish he'd fight for the Danes and massacre Alfred's family once and for all. Thankyou so very much for all the hours of literary pleasure you have shared with all of us avid fans. A question if you will, you claimed in one of the Saxon story books that the historical rulers of The Bebbanburg were your ancestors, I was wondering if you could share how you came about this knowledge? My own surname is Saxon, going back to ancient Treowemann (faithful/loyal man)and in my romantic imagination I see my own ancient ancestor as a Saxon Huscarle in service to a Lord and would love to know if this was truly so. Also in this day and age of mostly pollution from the television are there any plans for a TV series of The Saxon Stories? I was thinking Kevin McKidd (Vorenus) would make an excellent Uhtred. If there were a series who you like to see try to fill Uhtred's mail, iron plated boots? Yours humbly and full of gracious thanks Chris TruemanA: What I know was discovered by a member of my birth family (I only met them about six or seven years ago). They were fortunate in being a prominent family . . . in Saxon times they were, first, kings of Bernicia (now lowland Scotland) then earls of Northumbria (thus the connection with Bebbanburg), and even after their fall (thanks to Cnut) they remained as county gentry in north Yorkshire . . . and the surname is distinctive enough to make them quite easy to trace through a tangle of records.No plans for a TV series. I have no clue! I'd be horrible at casting...

Q: Bernard I have just finished "The Burning Land" -- a very enjoyable continuation of a great series. Thank you. I was surprised, however, that the chart of "The Royal Family of Wessex" at the front of the UK edition shows King Athelstan as a descendant of Aethelflaed. I did enjoy your suggestion in your Historical Note that you have used your license as an author of fiction to denigrate Eathelred of Mercia despite the lack of supporting evidence. Making Athelstan the son of Aethelflaed (and presumably Uhtred) would, however, be much bigger stretch. JohnA: You're right - I haven't seen that genealogy table (the publishers generated it and I've only just received a copy) and I gave them the correct information, but it seems they've screwed up - sorry about that - I'll have them correct it

Q: Mr. Cornwell I was just wondering if the Burning Land is going to be the last of the Saxon stories? Or do you have whole long series planned? I hope it's the latter. Nick DoneganDear Mr. Cornwell, I have been thoroughly enjoying your Saxon Chronicles series and am happy to hear the continuing story of Uhtred is due out soon. I have two questions concerning this series. Firstly, how many books do you envision to complete Uhtred's tale? Secondly, based on the style of it, it seems it would be ideal for making into a Motion Picture or BBC type mini-series. Any hope we may see Uhtred in more than just our own heads? Thank you for your time and Best Wishes, Karl PS- A friend of mine from Chicago went so far as to have relatives in Sweden get a copy of Sword Song from Europe and send it back to America. We couldn't wait until it came out in print here in the States. Guess that makes us true fans. Wasail!A: It is not the last book of the series - there will be more! I don't know how many yet. No plans for a film or TV series at this time.

Q: Hi, being naturally extremely excited about the new Uhtred book, I've just listened to the unabridged audiobooks of the first two as a quick re-cap and was wondering when the third and fourth will be released in the same format? Elsewhere in the questions section you seem to suggest that they should already be available in this format, but I can't find them on Amazon.co.uk or Audible.co.uk (which has the other two). Am I missing something? PS: I think Tom Sellwood is a great narrator for them. Cheers. Ed PriorA: Both The Lords of the North and Sword Song are available unabridged through BBCaudiobooks (Chivers). I don't know if you can get them from Amazon, but maybe from the BBC website?

The Burning Land Book Cover

new book released

New Book Released: Burning Land

SynopsisThe latest in the bestselling Alfred series from number one historical novelist, Bernard Cornwell. In the last years of the ninth century, King Alfred of Wessex is in failing health, and his heir is an untested youth. The Danes, who have failed so many times to conquer Wessex, smell opportunity! First comes Harald Bloodhair, a savage warrior leading a Viking horde, who is encouraged to cruelty by his woman, Skade. But Alfred still has the services of Uhtred, his unwilling warlord, who leads Harald into a trap and, at Farnham in Surrey, inflicts one of the greatest defeats the Vikings were ever to suffer. This novel, the fifth in the magnificent series of England's history tells of the final assaults on Alfred's Wessex, that Wessex survived to become England is because men like Uhtred defeated an enemy feared throughout Christendom.

Bernard Cornwell with his Wife

Dining Out

House of York

House of YorkCountry EnglandParent house House of PlantagenetTitles Duke of York, King of EnglandFounder Edmund of LangleyFinal ruler Richard III of EnglandCurrent head Francis FitzherbertFounding year 1385Ethnicity English, French

Yorkist—Dukes of YorkDuke Portrait Birth Marriages DeathEdmund of Langley(House of York founder)1385–1402

5 June 1341

Kings Langley son of Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault Isabella of Castile13723 children

Joan de Hollandno children

1 August 1402Kings Langley age 61Edward of Norwich 1402–1415

1373 Norwich son of Edmund of Langley and Isabella of Castile never married

25 October 1415 Agincourt age 42 Richard Plantagenet1415–1460

21 September 1411son of Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge and Anne de Mortimer -Cecily Neville 143713 children

30 December 1460 Wakefield age 49 Edward Plantagenet

1460–146128 April 1442 Rouen son of Richard Plantagenet and Cecily Neville - Elizabeth Woodville 1 May 146410 children

9 April 1483 Westminster age 40Edward Plantagenet became Edward IV in 1461, thus merging the title of Duke of York in crown.

Fallen Angel

Book by Bernard Cornwell

Bernard Cornwell: Fallen Angel and A Crowning Mercy

Title: Fallen Angels

Title: A Crowning MercyFleeing from her strict Puritan household and an unbearable arranged marriage, Dorcas seeks her fortune in 17th century London and falls in love with a charming aristocrat. Left an intricately wrought seal by her unknown father, she must follow the course of her father's legacy to find her destiny.

A Crowning Mercy

Book by Bernard Cornwell

Warlords Book Cover

Turkish Edition

Warlords Cover: Turkish Edition

This is the cover art that I made for the book named "Enemy of God" by Bernard Cornwell (The Arthur Books series). This cover was made for the Turkish Edition of the book. Warlords picture

Books on the Templars and the Grail

The Templars and the Grail: Knights of the Questby Karen Ralls-MacLeod, Karen Ralls,John Matthews (Foreword by)About this title: The result of 11 years of research, this well-documented book surveys various theories about the Knight Templers' quest and lets readers decide what is fact. Includes rare photos from the Rosslyn Chapel Museum (Scotland). 2 illustrations, 18 photos.

The Grail: A Secret Historyby Dr. John MatthewsAbout this title: What is the Grail? Is it a stone? Is it a chalice? Or is it something even more powerful--an enduring idea that has captured humanity's imagination across the centuries? Fictional accounts of the Grail have topped best-seller lists over the years, "The Da Vinci Code" being only the most recent among them. But the truth about the Grail--where truth can be brought to light--is even more electrifying than the most exciting novel ever written. This informative and beautifully illustrated book recounts the Grail's story, from its early appearances in ancient myths to its many references inExamines the part the chalice plays in Christ's PassionTells stories of the secret societies that guarded the Grail's mysteries Explores Grail theories that speculate on the holy bloodline of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, and on an alternate theory of the Grail as the philosopher's stone Describes modern Grail seekers, and reveals why even the Nazis sought it These and hundreds more fascinating details will keep readers turning pages to the book's final chapter. Approximately 90 color photos.

The Grail: Quest for the Eternalby John MatthewsAbout this title: Explore a truly astonishing range of interests, philosophies, religions, and cultures -- from alchemy to angels, Buddhism to Hinduism, myth to magic. The distinguished authors bring a wealth of knowledge, visionary thinking, and accessible writing to each intriguing subject in these lavishly illustrated, large-format paperback books.

Books

"Marching with Sharpe" by B J Bluth, this book is beautifully illustrated and contains everything you wanted to know about life in Wellington's Army in the Napoleonic Wars

non-fiction, non-sharpe
The Recollections of Rifleman Harris - edited and introduced by Christopher Hibbert (published by The Windrush Press) Not the Rifleman Harris of book and series fame, but memoirs of a soldier of the 95th who was there!

Wellington's War - A Living History by Paul Lewis Isemonger with an introduction by Richard Rutherford Moore. This book covers all aspects of life as a soldier or sailor at the time of the Peninsular campaign, illustrated with the help of re-enactors.

Uniforms of Waterloo by Philip Haythornthwaite, Jack Cassin-Scott, Michael Chappell - 80 colour plates of all forces at Waterloo, beautifully illustrated with full descriptions of the uniforms and historical information. Included are a summary of the campaign, an order of battle and a full bibliography.

Wellington-The Years of the Sword (Published by Weidenfelt and Nicholson in 1969) SBN29717917 -
Lady Elizabeth Longford. This book covers the years 1769-1815.

Wellington - Pillar of State (Written in 1972) ISBN 0.297-00250-3 -
Lady Elizabeth Longford. Although written sometime ago, these are highly recognised books and worth trying to get hold of. Lady Longford is a member of Wellington's family and considered to be an authority on him.

About the Group

We are a friendly group affiliated to the Bernard Cornwell Group on Shelfari a book reading site for all book lovers. Here we are adding background, maps, pictures and all to do with the books we are reading in Old English, Middle English,Icelandic Sagas,Myths and Legends etc

The Battle of Maldon Poem

The Battle of Maldon is the name given to an Anglo-Saxon poem of uncertain date celebrating the real Battle of Maldon of 991, at which the English failed to prevent a Viking invasion. Only 325 lines of the poem are extant, both the beginning and the ending are lost.

The poemThe poem is told entirely from the perspective of the English, with many individual and, Mitchell and Robinson believe, real Englishmen named.Mitchell and Robinson conjecture that the lost opening of the poem must have related how Byrhtnoth, the English leader, hearing of the Viking invasion, raises his troops and leads them to the shore.The poem as we have it begins with the English preparing for battle. A Viking messenger offers the English ealdorman Byrhtnoth peace if he will consent to pay tribute. Byrhtnoth angrily refuses, telling the messenger that he will fight the heathen Vikings in defence of what he regards as his land, and the land of his king, Æthelred. However, due to his “ofermōde” (This word, occuring in line 89, has caused much discussion. Literally “high spirits” or “overconfidence”, “ofermōde” is usually translated as “pride”, and occurs in Anglo-Saxon Genesis poems when referring to Lucifer. Both Glenn and Alexander translate it as “arrogance” and Bradley as “extravagant spirit”) Byrhtnoth allows the Vikings entry to the mainland, giving them room in which to do battle, rather than keeping them penned in on the more easily-defended causeway that links the mainland to the small island where the Vikings have landed.Individual episodes from the ensuing carnage are described, and the fates of several English warriors depicted – notably that of Byrthtnoth himself, who dies urging his soldiers forward and commending his soul to God. Not all the English are portrayed as heroic however: one, Godric the son of Odda (there are two Godrics in the poem), flees the battle with his brothers and, most improperly, does so on Byrthtnoth's horse. Several lines later the English lord Offa claims that the sight of Byrthtnoth's horse (easily recognisable from its trappings) fleeing, and so Byrthtnoth, as it would appear from a distance, has bred panic in the ranks and left the English army in danger of defeat. There follow several passages in which English lords urge on their soldiers and voice their defiance of their enemy, and descriptions of how they are then killed by the un-personified “sea-wanderers”. The poem as it has come down to us ends with another Godric disappearing from view. This time it is Godric the son of Æthelgar, advancing into a body of Vikings and being killed.

History of the textIn 1731 the only known manuscript of the poem (which, as with the modern version, was missing its beginning and ending) was destroyed in the fire at Ashburnham House that also damaged and destroyed several other works in the Cotton library. The poem has come down to us thanks to the transcription of it made c.1724, which was published by Thomas Hearne in 1726. After being lost, the original transcription was found in the Bodleian Library in the 1930s. Who made this original transcription is still unclear, some favouring John Elphinstone, others David Casley.

ScholarshipGeorge K. Anderson dated The Battle of Maldon to the 10th Century and felt that it was unlikely that much was missing. R.K. Gordon is not so specific, writing that this "last great poem before the Norman Conquest ... was apparently written very soon after the battle", while Michael J. Alexander speculates that the poet may even have fought at Maldon.S.A.J. Bradley reads the poem as a celebration of pure heroism – nothing was gained by the battle, rather the reverse: not only did Byrthtnoth, “so distinguished a servant of the Crown and protector and benefactor of the Church,” die alongside many of his men in the defeat, but the Danegeld was paid shortly after – and sees in it an assertion of national spirit and unity, and in the contrasting acts of the two Godrics the heart of the Anglo-Saxon heroic ethos. Mitchell and Robinson are more succinct: “The poem is about how men bear up when things go wrong”. Several critics have commented on the poem's preservation of a centuries-old Germanic ideal of heroism:Maldon is remarkable (apart from the fact that it is a masterpiece) in that it shows that the strongest motive in a Germanic society, still, nine hundred years after Tacitus, was an absolute and overriding loyalty to one's lord.—Michael J. Alexander, The Earliest English Poems

In popular cultureThe Anglo-Saxon scholar and writer J. R. R. Tolkien was inspired by the poem to write The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son, an alliterative dialogue between two characters at the end of the battle. In publishing the work, Tolkien included alongside it an essay on the original poem and another on the word “ofermōde”.

Poem: The Battle of Maldon in Modern English

The Battle of MaldonTranslated from the Anglo-Saxon by Wilfrid Berridge

Part I BRITHNOTH DECIDES TO FIGHTThen he ordered each of his warriors his horse to looseFar off to send it and forth to go,To be mindful of his hands and of his high heart.Then did Offa's Kinsman first knowThat the earl would not brook cowardice,Loosed he from his hands his darling to fly,His Hawk to the wood, and to the battle strode.From that one could tell that the chieftain would neverWeaken in the warfare - when he his weapons seized.And after him Edric chose his chief to follow,His friend in the fight - then 'gan he forth to bearThe spear to the strife - high spirit had he,So long as he with his hands to hold was ableHis buckler and broadsword; his boast he fulfilledThat he by his friend's side should fight.

BRITHNOTH PREPARES HIS ARRAYThen did Brithnoth begin his men to bestow -He rode up and counselled them - his soldiers he taughtHow they should stand, and their standing to keep,And bade them their round shields rightly to holdFast to their forearms, that they flinch not at all.And when he had his folk fairly bestowedHe lighted there with his people, where he would liefest beWhere he knew his own troops were most to be trusted.

THE VIKINGS PARLEYThen stood forth on the strand and sternly spakeThe messenger of the Vikings, delivered his tidings;He boastfully spoke, for the seafarersTheir sentence to the earl, where he stood on the shore."They sent me to thee, those bold seamen,And bade me to say that thou must send swiftlyRing-money for pledges. For you were it betterThat you buy off this spear-rush with your tax,Than that we should have so hard a battle.What need we to vex us, if you will agree?We will for this gold a sure compact makeIf thou wilt agree to it - thou that art strongest.If that thou be willing thy people to redeem,To yield to the seamen at their own choiceTribute for a truce, and so take peace of us,Then will we with the tax to ship betake usTo sail on the sea - and hold truce with you.Brithnoth made answer - his buckler he grasped,Brandished his slender spear - and spoke."Hearest thou, sea-robber, what this people say?For tribute they're ready to give you their spears,The edge poison-bitter, and the ancient sword.War-gear that will bring you no profit in the fight.Thou messenger of the seamen, back with thy message.Tell to thy people, these far more hateful tidings,There stands here a good earl in the midst of his men,Who will this country ever defend,The kingdom of Aethelred, mine overlord,The folk and the ground - but they shall fall,The foemen in the fight; too shameful methinksThat ye with our tribute, to ship should be goneWithout a blow struck - now that ye have thus farMade your incoming into our land.Nor shall ye so softly carry off our riches.Sooner shall point and edge reconcile us,Grim warplay indeed - before we give tribute."Bade he then to bear the shields, the warriors to go,So that they on the river's bank all stood.

THE TIDE DELAYS THE FIGHTINGNor could for the water, the army come at the other,For there came flowing, flood after ebb;Locked were the ocean-streams, and too long it seemedUntil they together might carry their spears.There by Panta's stream in array they bestood,Essex men's rank, and the men from the ships,Nor might any one of them injure the otherExcept where from arrow's flight one had his death.The flood went out - the pirates stood ready.Full many of the Vikings, eager for battle.

BRITHNOTH SETS A GUARD OVER THE FORDThen bade the men's saviour, one to hold the bridge,A warrior war-hardened, that was Wulfstan hight1,Courageous mid his kin - he was Ceola's son,Who the first foeman with his spear did fellThat bravest stepped forth upon the bridge.There stood with Wulfstan warriors goodlyAelfere and Maccus, high hearted both,That never at the ford would turn them to flight,But they steadfastly 'gainst their foes made defence,While their weapons to wield they were able.

THE VIKINGS ARE BAULKEDWhen they saw that, and keenly espied.That bitter bridge-guardians there they met.Then began they to feign - those loathed guests -And begged that they might some foothold get,To fare over the ford - the foemen to lead.BRITHNOTH ALLOWS THE VIKINGS TO CROSSThen did the earl, in his overweening heartLend land too much to that loathed people.Then 'gan he call out - across the cold waterBrighthelm's son, and all the band listened."Now room is meted you, come swiftly to us,Warriors to war. Only God knowsWho at the end shall possess this fight's field".Then went the war wolves - for water they recked not.The troop of the pirates, west over Panta.Over the shining water they carried their shieldsSeamen to the shore, their bucklers they shouldered.There against the raiders ready stoodBrithnoth with his band, and with the bucklers badeForm the shield wall, and make firm the ranksFast against the foes. Then was fighting nigh,Fame in the fight - now was the hour comeWhen that the feymen2 must fall.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------1 ‘hight’ = archaic, literary word meaning ‘named’ or ‘called’2 ‘feymen’ = ‘doomed men’ destined to die in the battlePart II THE BATTLE IS JOINEDNow was riot raised, the ravens wheeled,The eagle, eager for carrion, there was a cry on earth.Then loosed they from their hands the file-hard lance,The sharp-ground spears to fly.Bows were busied - buckler met pointBitter was the battle-rush, warriors fellOn either hand, the young men lay!Wounded was Wulfmur, a war bed he chose,Even Brithnoth's kinsman, he with swordsWas straight cut down, his sister's son.Then to the Vikings was requital given.I heard that Edward did slay oneStraightly with his sword, nor stinted3 the blow,That at his feet fell - the fey warrior.For this his thane did to him give thanks,Even to his chamberlain - when he had a space.THE ESSEX MEN STAND FASTSo stood firm the stout-heartedWarriors in the war - they did keenly striveWho with his point first should be ableFrom fey men to win life.Warriors with weapons: wrack fell on earth.They stood steadfast; Brithnoth stirred them,Bade each of his men intend to the strifeThat would from the Danes win glory.

A VIKING ATTACKS BRITHNOTHWent one stern in battle - his weapon upheaved,His shield for safety - and 'gainst the chief strode -As resolute against him the earl did go,Each to the other did evil intend.Sent then the seafarer a southern dart,And wounded was the warriors' chieftain.But he shoved with his shield - so that the shaft burst,And the spear broke, and it sprang away.Wroth was the chieftain, he pierced with his spearThat proud Viking who gave him that wound.Yet prudent was the chieftain; he aimed his shaft to goThrough the man's neck - his hand guided itSo that he reached his sudden enemy's life.Then he a second swiftly sentThat the breastplate burst - in the heart was he woundedThrough the ring-harness - and at his heart stoodThe poisoned point; the earl was the blither:-Laughed then that high-heart - made thanks to GodFor his day's work - that his Saviour granted him.

A SECOND VIKING WOUNDS BRITHNOTHLoosed then one of the foemen a dart from his hands,To fly from his finders - that it rushed forthThrough the noble thane of Aethelred.Close to his side stood a youth not yet grownWulfstan's child - even Wulfmeer the younger.He plucked from his chieftain that bloody spearThen loosed the hard spear 'gainst that other to go;In ran the point - so that he on earth layWho ere had sorely wounded his chief.Went an armed Viking against the earlWho wished the earl's jewels to plunder,His armour and rings - and well-adorned sword.Then Brithnoth drew his sword from sheathBroad and brown edged - and at his breast-plate smote.Too soon hindered him one of the seamen,So that the earl's arm he did injure.Fell then to earth the fallow-hilted sword,Nor could he hold the hard brandOr wield his weapon.

BRITHNOTH'S DYING WORDSYet then this word did speakThe old warrior; cheered on his menOrdered to go forward - his good brethren.No longer could he firmly on his feet stand.He looked up to heaven........"I thank Thee, Lord of all peoplesFor all those joys that I on earth have known.Now, my Maker mild - I have most needThat thou to my ghost should grant good.That my soul to Thee may journey,Into thy kingdom - O lord of the Angels,May pass with peace - I do desire of TheeThat the hell-fiends may not hurt it."Then hewed at him those heathen menAnd at both those men that stood him beside,Aelfnoth and Wulfmeer - both fell;Then beside their liege - their lives they yielded.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------3 ‘stinted’ = restrained, held back

Part III GODRIC BEGINS THE FLIGHTThen fled those from the fight that wished not to be there.Then were Odda's sons first in the flightGodric from the battle, and left his good lordWho had often given him many a mare,He sprang upon the horse that his lord had owned,Upon the trappings where no right had he,And with him his brothers - they both galloped off,Godrinc and Godwig, they loved not the battle,They went from that war - and the wood they sought,They fled to the fastness - and saved their own lives,And men more than had any rightIf they had all bethought them of the blessingsThat he had done them for their good comfort.Even thus to him Offa one day ere had saidIn the meeting-place where he held his moot.That with proud minds many did then speakWho later at need would not endure.Then fell that leader of the folk,Aethelred's earl and all did see,His hearth companions - that their lord was laid low.

MANY CONTINUE THE BATTLEThen went forth the proud thanes,Brave men - hastened eagerly,And willed they all - for one of two things:Their lives to lose, or their loved lord to avenge.Thus urged them forth the son of Aelfric,A warrior young in winters - with words he spake,Aelfwin thus said - boldly he spoke,"Think ye of the times when we oft spake at meadWhen we on the benches did raise up our boast,Henchmen in the hall - about hard strife,Now may each one make trial of how bold he be.Now will I tell my lineage to allThat I was in Mercia of a mighty kindredMine old father - Aldhelm was hight,An alderman wise - and rich in wealth;Nor shall the thanes mid the people reproach me,That I would consent to flee from this fight,My home to seek, now my lord lieth low,Slain in the strife; but yet it most grieves meFor that he was both - my kinsman and my lord."Then went he forth - full mindful of the feud,So that with his spear one he slew.A pirate 'mong his people - that he fell to the earth.Slain by his weapon. He 'gan to urge onHis comrades and friends - that they should go forth.Offa spake, his spear-shaft shook,"Lo thou, Aelfwin, hast all heartenedThanes at need - now our lord lieth,The earl on the earth - for us all is needThat each one of us should hearten the otherWarrior to war, while he his weapon may Have and hold, his hard blade,His spear and good sword - for Godric hath us,Odda's coward son, all betrayed.For many men thought when he rode off on the mare,On that proud steed, that he was our lord.And for that cause are the folk scattered over the fieldThe shield wall broken. May his plan come to nought!For that he so many men hath set to flight."Leofsund spoke, his buckler uphove,His shield for safety - and that man answered,"I do promise this, that I will not henceFly a foot's step, but shall further goTo avenge in the war my friendly lord.Then shall not need in Sturmere the steadfast soldiersTo twit me with words, now my friend is fall'n,For that I returned home without my lord,Turned from the battle, but the sword shall take me,The point and the steel." And he, most wroth, departed.Fought steadfastly - flight he despised.Dunmer then spoke - shook his spear,A humble churl - called out above all,Bade each warrior - "Brithnoth avenge!Now may not go he who thinketh to avengeHis friend among the folk, nor mourn for his life."

Part IV THE LAST STAND OF THE THANESAnd then they went forth - for life they recked not.Then 'gan the house men hardly to fight,The fierce spear bearers - and they begged GodThat they might avenge their friendly lord,And on their enemies bring death.Then the hostage 'gan eagerly help,He was in Northumbria of a hardy kin,Eclaf's child, and Aesferth his name.He weakened not a whit in the warplay,But he sent forth often a shaft,Often he a buckler struck, often a man hit,Ever and again he dealt out woundsThe while he his weapons might wield.Then yet in the rank stood Eadward the tall,Ready and eager - a boastful word spoke,That he would not flee a foot's space of land,Or budge back, now that his better chief was fall'n.He shattered the shield wall and fought with the soldiersUntil he his treasure-giver upon the seamenHad worthily avenged - 'ere he lay with the slain.So did Aeturic - a noble companion,Eager and impetuous - he fought keenly,Sibright's brother, - and full many more, -Split the hollow shields, sharply parried.The buckler's edge burst, breast-plate sangA grisly song. Then in the strife struckOffa a seaman, that he sank to the earth,And then Gadda's kinsman the ground sought.Soon in the struggle was Offa struck downYet had he done what he boasted to his friendAs he bragged before to his ring-giver:-That they both to the burg should rideHale to their home, or in the battle fall,On the war field perish of their wounds.He fell like true thane at his chief's side.Then was breaking of bucklers, the seamen came on Stern to the strife; the spear often piercedA feyman's body. Forth then went Wistan,Thurstan's son, with the enemy fought,He was in the throng - of three men the baneEre him Wigelin's son on the battlefield laid.Then was stern meeting, stood fastWarriors in the war, then men sank downWearied with wounds - slaughter fell on earth.Oswald and Ealdwald all the whileBrothers both, urged on the men,Their dear kinsmen, with words incitedThat they there at need should hold out,Stoutly wield their weapons.Brythwold spoke, grasped his buckler,He was an old comrade, urged the men,He full boldly cheered his soldiers,"Thought must be the harder, heart the keenerSpirit shall be more - as our might lessens.There lies our chief all cut down,Good man on the ground; for ever may he grieveWho now from this war-play thinketh to go.I am old in years - hence I will not, But by the side of mine own lord,By my chief so loved, I think to lie."And thus them all did Aethelgar's son urge,Even Godric, to the battle - oft he cast a spear,A spear of slaughter to go upon the Vikings,As he 'mid the folk foremost went,Smote and struck down till he sank down in the fight.He was not that Godric who left the battle.

The Sermon of 'Wolf' to the English

There are many clerics in Bernard Cornwell's Saxon Series and many are not very Christian. It often difficult for us to understand the Early Christian Chuch as they embed themselves into the daily lives of the common man but also the politics of state and having the Kings ear. I found this while reading Anglo-Saxon Prose Translated and Edited by Michael Swanton, published by Dent Everyman Library, ISBN 0-460-11809-9 and although it was written after King Alfreds Death it still concerns the viking raids and the church's view on them.

The Sermon of 'Wolf' To The English When The Danes Persecuted Them Most,Which Was In The Year 1014 From The Incarnation Of Our Lord Jesus Christ

It was commonly believed that the world would come to an end a thousand years after either Christ's birth or his death, but in any case imminently. For the apocalyptic signs anticipated read the Bickling Homily 7, p.67 f.

Wulfstan's life spanned a particularly troubled period of English history,he was a statesman-cleric whoused thepen-name 'Wolf' for several writings. He was Bishop of London from 096-1002 and Archbishop of York from 1002-1023,which office he held in plurality with the See of Worcester until 1016.

Viking raids were once more a serious menace in the last decade of the tenth century,inflicting a series of humiliating military defeats, of which the poem on The Battle of Maldon is one literary reflection. Danegeld was levied, and some time after Christmas 1013 the incompetent King Aethelred was exiled into Normandy to allow the Danish King Swegn tosucceed. Aethelred returned on Swegn's death the following year,but Danish depredations continued under the direction of Swegn's son Cnut; and upon Aethelred's death in 1016,Cnut assumed the throne.

Beloved Men,recognise what the truth is: this world is in haste and it is drawing near the end,and therefore the longer it is the worse it will get in the world. And it needs must thus become very much worse as a result of the people's sins prior to the advent of Antichrist; and then,indeed, it will be terrible and cruel throughout the world.------------Because we have earned themiseries which oppress us by great demerit,we must obtain the cure from God,if it is to improve henceforth by very great merit.-----------------and many misfortunes befall this nation over and over again. Forlong now nothing has prospered, within or without,but there has been devastation and persecution in every part,over and again. And forlong now the English have been entirely without victory and too much cowed because of the wrath of God, and the pirates so strong with God's consent, that in battle often one will put to flight ten, and sometimes less sometimes more, all because of our sins.----------------------------------But all the disgrace we often suffer we repay with honour to those who bring shame on us. We pay them continually, and they humiliate us daily. They ravage and they burn,plunder and rob,and carry away on board; and indeed, what else is there in all these events but the wrath of God clear and visible towards this nation?-------------------------But look,in God's name,let us do as is necessary for us,defend ourselves as best we may,lest we all perish together. There was a historian in the time of the Britons called Gildas. He wrote about their misdeeds, how by their sins they angered God so very excessively that finally he allowed the host of the English to conquer their land and to destroy the nobility of the Britons altogether. This shows how long they had been suffering as this reference comes from a letter by Alcuin of York on hearing about the destruction of Lindisfarne by the Danes 793 and attributing the calamities of his own day to the sins of the English.-----------------May God help us. Amen

If you would like to hear this and other works read in Old English this site has many:

A daily reading of the entire Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records,which includes all poems written in Old English. By Michael D. C. Drout, Prentice Professor of English at Wheaton College, Norton, MA.

Grimes Graves

Cottages at Rothersfield

Battle Abbey Plan

The Burning Land

I had left Finan and a handful of men as our only sentries. They were posted at the edge of the fields, halfway between the village and the old hall and Finan had sent one man to warn me that the Danes were moving. "They're in the woods, lord," the man told me, "by our camp.""How many?""We can"t tell, lord, but it sounds like a horde."Which could mean two hundred or two thousand, and prudence suggested I should wait till Finan could estimate the enemy more accurately, but I was in that bleak mood, feeling doomed and desperate for a sign from the gods, and so I turned to Æthelflæd. "You wait here with your bodyguard," I said, and did not wait for an answer, but just drew Serpent-Breath, taking comfort from the sound of the long steel scraping through the scabbard's throat. "The Danes are at our camp!" I shouted, "and we're going to kill them!" I spurred my horse, the same stallion I had taken from Aldhelm. It was a good horse, properly schooled, but I was still unfamiliar with him.Ælfwold spurred to catch me. "How many are there?" he asked."Enough!" I called to him. I was feeling reckless, careless and I knew it was foolish. But I reckoned the Danes would attack the encampment and almost immediately realise we had anticipated them, and then they would be wary. I wanted them unaware and so I kicked the stallion into a trot. My whole force, nearly four hundred men, was streaming along the track behind me. The day's first shadows were being cast into the furrows and birds were flying up from the woods ahead.I turned in my saddle to see spears and swords, axes and shields. Saxon warriors, grey-mailed in a grey dawn, grim-faced beneath helmets, and I felt the battle anger rising. I wanted to kill. I was in that bleak mood, assailed by the certainty that I had to throw myself on the mercy of the gods. If they wanted me to live, if the spinners were willing to weave my thread back into the golden weft, then I would live through this morning. Omens and signs, we live by them, and so I rode to discover the will of the gods. It was foolish.Horsemen appeared on our left, startling me, but it was only Finan and his seven remaining men who galloped to join us. "There might be three hundred of them," he shouted, "or maybe four hundred!" I just nodded and kicked the horse again. The track to the old hall was wide enough for four or five men to ride abreast. Finan probably expected me to halt our horsemen short of the space we had cleared about the old hall and line the men in the trees, but the carelessness was on me.Light flared ahead. The daylight was still grey, night shrouding the western horizon, but the sudden new light was red and bright. Fire. The Danes, I guessed, had lit the hall's thatch, so now let it light their deaths. I could see the edge of the trees, see the fallen trunks we had felled the day before, see the dull glow of dying campfires and the dark shapes of men and horses and the glimmer of reflected fire from helmets, mail and weapons, and I kicked the stallion again and roared a challenge. "Kill them!”We came in a ragged order, bursting from the trees with swords and spears, with hatred and fury, and almost as soon as I entered the clearing I realised we were outnumbered. The Danes had come in force, at least four hundred, and most were still mounted, but they were scattered throughout the encampment and few realised we were approaching until our horses and blades appeared in the dawn. The largest body of the enemy was at the clearing's western edge, staring across the dark land towards the faint glow of light betraying the fires of Lundene. Maybe they suspected we had given up any hope of capturing the forts and, under the cover of night, had slunk back towards the distant city. Instead we were coming from the east with the growing light behind us, and they turned as they heard the first screams and shouts. We were lit red by the growing fire of the old hall's burning thatch. Red fire was flashing from the horses" bared teeth, from our mail, from our blades, and I was still shouting as I swung my sword at the first man. He was on foot and holding a broad-bladed spear that he tried to level at my horse, but Serpent-Breath caught him on the side of the head and I lifted the sword and lunged it at another man, not bothering to see what damage I did, just spurring on to provoke more fear. We had surprised them, and for a moment we were the lords of slaughter as we spread from the track and cut down dismounted men who searched for plunder around the dying camp fires. I saw Osferth hammer a man's head with the flat of an axe blade, knocking off the man's helmet and hurling him back into one of the fires. The man must have been in the habit of cleaning his hands after eating by running them through his hair because the grease caught the flames and flared sudden and bright. He screamed and writhed, head like a beacon as he staggered to his feet, then a rush of horsemen overrode him. A hoof threw up a spew of sparks and riderless horses fled in panic. Finan was with me. Finan and Cerdic and Sihtric, and together we rode for the large group of mounted warriors who had been staring west across the night-shadowed land. I was still shouting as I charged into them, sword swinging at a yellow-bearded man who deflected the blow with his raised shield, then he was struck by a spear below the shield, the blade ripping through mail and into his belly. I felt something strike my shield, but could not look to my left because a gap-toothed man was trying to lunge his sword through my stallion's neck. I knocked his blade down with Serpent-Breath and cut at his arm, but his mail stopped the blow. We were deep among the enemy now, unable to ride farther, but more of my men were coming to help. I lunged at the gap-toothed man, but he was quick and his shield intercepted the sword, then his horse stumbled. Sihtric slashed with an axe and I had a glimpse of splitting metal and sudden blood.I was trying to keep my horse moving. There were dismounted Danes among the riders, and a slash across my stallion's legs could bring me down and a man was never so vulnerable as when he topples from a saddle. A spear slid from my right, sliding across my belly to lodge in the underside of my shield and I just back-swung Serpent-Breath into a bearded face. I felt her shatter teeth and ripped her back to saw her edge deeper. A horse screamed. Ælfwold's men were deep in the fight now and our charge had split the Danes. Some had retreated down the hill, but most had gone either north or south along the crest and now they reformed and came at us from both directions, bellowing their own war cries. The sun had risen, dazzling and blinding, the hall was an inferno and the air a whirl of sparks in the new brightness.Chaos. For a moment we had held the advantage of surprise, but the Danes recovered quickly and closed on us. The hill's edge was a melee of trampling horses, shouting men, and the raw sound of steel on steel. I had turned northwards and was trying to drive those Danes off the hill, but they were just as determined. I parried a sword blow, watching the man's gritted teeth as he tried to cut my head off. The clash of swords jarred up my arm, but I had stopped his swing and I punched him in the face with Serpent-Breath's hilt. He swung again, striking my helmet, filling my head with noise as I punched a second time. I was too close to him to use the sword's edge, and he hit my sword arm with the rim of his shield. "Turd," he grunted at me. His helmet was decorated with twists of wool dyed yellow. He wore arm-rings over his mail, denoting a man who had won treasure in battle. There was fury in his fire-reflecting eyes. He wanted my death so badly. I wore the silver-decorated helmet, had more arm rings than he did and he knew I was a warrior of renown. Perhaps he knew who I was, and he wanted to boast that he had killed Uhtred of Bebbanburg and I saw him grit his teeth again as he tried to slice the sword at my face and then the grimace turned into surprise, and his eyes widened and the red went from them as he made a gurgling sound. He shook his head, desperate to keep hold of his faltering sword as the axe blade cut his spine. Sihtric had swung the axe and the man made a mewing noise and fell from the saddle, and just then my horse screamed and staggered sideways and I saw a dismounted Dane thrusting a spear up into the stallion's belly. Finan drove the man over with his horse as I kicked my feet out of the stirrups. The stallion collapsed, twisting and kicking, still screaming, and my right leg was trapped beneath him. Another horse stepped a hair's breadth from my face. I covered my body with the shield and tried to drag myself free. A blade crashed into the shield. A horse stepped on Serpent-Breath and I almost lost the blade. My world was a thunder of hooves, screams and confusion. I tried to pull free again then something, blade or hoof, struck the back of my helmet and the confused world turned black. I was dazed, and in the darkness I heard someone making pathetic moaning noises. It was me. A man was trying to drag my helmet off and, when he realised I was alive he put a knife at my mouth and I remember thinking of Gisela and desperately checking that Serpent-Breath's hilt was in my hand, and it was not, and I screamed, knowing I was denied the joys of Valhalla and then my vision turned red. There was warmth on my face and red before my eyes, and I recovered my senses to realise that the man who would have killed me was dying himself and his blood was pouring onto my face, then Cerdic heaved the dying man away and pulled me from beneath the dead horse. "Here!" Sihtric thrust Serpent-Breath into my hand. Both he and Cerdic were dismounted. A Dane shouted victory and lunged with a thick-hafted spear from his saddle and Cerdic deflected the thrust with a blade-scored shield. I stabbed the horseman's thigh with Serpent-Breath, but the blow had no force and his spear sliced at me, thumping hard into my shield. The Danes were scenting triumph and they pressed forward and we felt their blows chopping on the lindenwood. "Kill their horses," I shouted, though it came out as a croak, and some of Weohstan's men arrived on our right and drove their horses at the Danes and I saw a Saxon twist in his saddle, his spear hand hanging from his bloody arm by a scrap of bone or tendon. "Jesus! Jesus!" a man shouted and it was Father Pyrlig who joined us. The Welsh priest was on foot, belly stretching his mail, a spear like a small tree-trunk in his hands. He carried no shield and so used the spear-two handed, driving the blade at the enemy's horses to keep them at a distance. "Thankyou," I said to Cerdic and Sihtric. "We should go back, lord," Cerdic said. "Where's Finan?" "Back!" Cerdic shouted, and he unceremoniously grabbed my left shoulder and pulled me away from the Danes. Finan was fighting behind us, hammering an axe at the Danes on the southern part of the crest where he was supported by most of my men and by Ælfwold's Mercians. "I need a horse," I snarled. "This is a muddle," Pyrlig said, and I almost laughed because his tone and his words were so mild. It was more than a muddle, it was a disaster. I had led my men onto the hill's edge and the Danes had recovered from the attack and now they surrounded us. There were Danes to the east, to the north and to the south, and they were trying to drive us over the crest and pursue us down the steep slope where our bodies would be a smear of blood beneath the rising sun. At least a hundred of my Saxons were dismounted now and we formed a circle inside a desperate shield wall. Too many were dead, some killed by their own side for, in the maelstrom, it was hard to know friend from foe. Many Saxons had a cross on their shield, but not all. There were plenty of Danish corpses too, but their living outnumbered us. They had my small shield wall surrounded, while their horsemen were harrying the still mounted Saxons back into the woods. Ælfwold had lost his stallion and the Mercian forced his way to my side. "You bastard," he said, "you treacherous bastard." He must have thought I had deliberately led his men into a trap, but it was only my stupid carelessness, not treachery, that had led to this disaster. Ælfwold raised his shield as the Danes came and the blows hammered down. I thrust Serpent-Breath into a horse's chest, twisted and thrust again, and Pyrlig half hoisted a man from the saddle with a tremendous lunge of his heavy spear. But Ælfwold was down, his helmet ripped open, his blood and brains spilling onto his face, but he retained enough consciousness to look at me reproachfully before he started to quiver and spasm and I had to look away to ram the sword at another Dane whose horse tripped on a corpse, and then the enemy pulled back from our shield wall to ready themselves for another attack. "Jesus, Jesus," Ælfwold said, and then the breath stuttered in his throat and he said no more. Our shield wall was shrunken, our shields splintered and bloodied. The Danes mocked us, snarled at us and promised us agonising deaths. Men moved closer together and I should have encouraged them, but I did not know what to say because this was my fault, my recklessness. I had attacked without first discovering the enemy's strength. My death, I thought, would be just, but I would go to the afterlife knowing I had taken too many good men with me. So the only course was to die well, and I pushed past Sihtric's shield and went towards the enemy. A man accepted the challenge and rode at me. I could not see his face because the rising sun was behind him, blinding me, but I slashed Serpent-Breath across his stallion's mouth and thrust my shield up to take his sword's blow. The horse reared, I thrust at its belly and missed as another man swung an axe from my left, and I stepped away and my foot slid in a slippery tangle of guts spilt from a corpse eviscerated by an axe. I went onto one knee, but again my men came to rescue me. The stallion thumped down and I stood, lunging at the rider, sword striking him somewhere, but I was sun dazzled and could not see where. To my right a stallion, a spear impaled in its chest, was coughing blood. I was shouting, though I do not remember what I shouted, and from my left came a new charge of horsemen. The newcomers were screaming war-cries. Die well. Die well. What else can a man do? His enemies must say of him that he died like a man. I lunged again, driving the horse away and a sword smacked into the top of my shield, splitting the iron rim and driving a splinter of wood into my eye. I rammed the blade again and felt Serpent-Breath scrape on bone as she tore the rider's thigh. He hacked down. I blinked the splinter away as his sword cracked on my helmet, glanced off and thumped my shoulder. The mail stopped the blow that had been suddenly weakened because Father Pyrlig had speared the rider in his side. The Welshman dragged me back towards the shield wall. "God be thanked!" he was saying over and over. The newcomers were Saxons. They rode under the banner of Wessex's dragon, and at their head was Steapa, and he was worth ten other men, and they had come from the north and were slicing into the Danes. "A horse!" I shouted, and someone brought me a stallion. Pyrlig held the nervous beast as I mounted. I pushed my boots into the unfamiliar stirrups and shouted at my dismounted men to find themselves horses. There were too many dead beasts, but enough riderless stallions still lived white-eyed amidst the slaughter. A huge crash announced the collapse of the burning hall's roof. The flaming beams fell one by one, each spewing a new thrust of sparks into the smoke-darkened sky. I spurred to the ancient votive stone, leaned from the saddle and touched the stone's top as I said a prayer to Thor. A spear had lodged itself through the hole in the pillar and I sheathed Serpent-Breath and took the long-hafted weapon. The blade was bloodied. The spearman, a Dane, lay dead beside the stone. A horse had stepped on his face, mangling it and leaving an eyeball dangling over his helmet's edge. I gripped the ash shaft and spurred the horse towards the remnants of the fight. Steapa and his men had utterly surprised the Danes who were turning to flee back to the safety of the fort, and Steapa was following. I tried to catch him, but he vanished among the trees. All the Saxons were in pursuit now, the thick woods filled with horses and fugitives. Finan somehow discovered me and rode alongside, ducking beneath branches. A wounded and dismounted Dane flinched from us, then fell to his knees, but we ignored him. "Sweet Jesus," Finan shouted to me, "but I thought we were doomed!" "Me too!""How did you know Steapa's men were coming?" He asked, then spurred after a fleeing Dane who kicked his horse frantically. "I didn"t!" I shouted, though Finan was too intent on his prey to hear me. I caught up and aimed the spear at the small of the Dane's back. Leaf mould flew up into my face from the hooves of the enemy's horse, then I lunged and Finan sliced back with his sword and the Dane dropped from the saddle as we galloped past. "Ælfwold's dead!" Finan called. "I saw it! He thought I betrayed him!" "He kept his brains in his arse then. Where have the bastards gone?" The Danes were riding for the fort and our pursuit had taken us slightly eastwards. I remember the green sunlight bright in the leaves, remember thumping past a badger's earth, remember the sound of all those hooves in the greenwood, the relief of living after what seemed certain death, and then we were at the edge of the trees. And still there was chaos. In front of us was a great stretch of grass where sheep and goats normally grazed. The land sloped down to a saddle, then rose more steeply to the gate of the old fort high on its domed hill. The Danes were galloping for the fort, eager to gain the protection of its ditch and ramparts, but Steapa's men were among the fugitives, slashing and hacking from their saddles. "Come on!" Finan shouted at me, and kicked back with his spurs. He saw the opportunity before I did. My immediate thought was to stop him and to stop Steapa's undisciplined charge, but then the recklessness took hold again. I shouted some wordless challenge and spurred after Finan. I had lost all sense of time. I could not tell how long that fight on the hill's edge had taken, but the sun was risen now and its light shimmered off the Temes and lit the high grass saddle a glowing green. The stream of horsemen stretched from the woods to the fort. My labouring horse was breathing hard, sweat white on its flanks, but I kicked it on as we converged on that turf-churning cavalcade of pursuers and pursued. And what Finan had understood before me was that the Danes might close the gate too late. He understood that they might be in such panic that they did not even think to close the gate. So long as their own men pounded across the ditch's causeway and beneath the wooden arch they would leave the gate open, but Steapa's men were so mixed with the Danes that some might get through, and if enough of us could get inside that wall then we could take the fort. Later, much later, when the poets told of that day's fight, they said Steapa and I attacked Thunresleam's old hall together, and that we drove the Danes in panic and that we assaulted the fort while the enemy was still reeling from that defeat. They got the story wrong, of course, but then, they were poets, not warriors. The truth was that Steapa rescued me from certain defeat, and neither of us assaulted the fort because we did not need to. The first of Steapa's men were allowed through the gate and it was only when they were inside that the Danes realised the enemy had entered with their own men. Another desperate fight started. Steapa ordered his men to dismount and they made a shield wall at the gate, a wall that faced both into the fort and out towards the sunlit slope, and the Danes trapped outside could not break that shield wall and fled instead. They spurred down the steep westwards facing slope, riding desperately towards the new fort. And we simply dismounted and walked through the gate to join Steapa's spreading shield wall inside the old fort. I saw Skade then. I never discovered whether she had led the horsemen to Thunresleam's burning hall, but she commanded the men in the old fort and she was screaming at them to attack us. But we were now in overwhelming numbers. There were at least four hundred Saxons in Steapa's wall, and more kept arriving on horseback. The proud banner of Wessex flew above us, the embroidered dragon spattered with blood, and Skade screamed at us. She was on horseback, in mail, bare-headed, her long black hair lifting in the wind as she brandished a sword. She kicked her horse towards the shield wall, but had enough sense to check as the round shields lifted in unison and the long spears reached towards her. Weohstan came with more horsemen, and he led them about the right flank of Steapa's wall and ordered a charge. Steapa shouted at the wall to advance and we marched up the slight slope towards the great halls that crowned the hill. Weohstan's men swept ahead of us and the Danes, understanding their fate, fled. And so we took the old fort. The enemy fled downhill, a man dragging Skade's horse by its bridle. She sat twisted in her saddle, staring at us. We did not follow. We were weary, bloodied, bruised, wounded and amazed. Besides, there was a shield wall of Danes guarding the bridge which led to the new fort. Not all the fugitives were going to that bridge, some were swimming their horses across the deep narrow creek to reach Caninga. The dragon was flown from the old fort's walls and, next to it, Ælfwold's cross. The flags announced a victory, but that victory would mean nothing unless we could capture the new fort which, for the first time, I saw clearly. And cursed.

Walton-on-Thames

Character in Bernard Cornwell's Saxon Series: Ulf

River Fleet Underground

London

River Eden Catchment Area

Tributary of the River Medway

River Beult Catchment

River Medway Tributary

Queensborough

Isle of Sheppey

Shire Court or Moot Court

Shire Court or Shire Moot was an Anglo-Saxon institution dating back to the earliest days of English society. The Shire Court referred to the magnates, both lay and spiritual, who were entitled to sit in council for the shire and was a very early form of representative democracy. The practise began in Wessex and was later used throughout the rest of England. Similar models were introduced in to Wales, particularly after the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284 .Initially the Court would travel and use different locations for its meetings, but after a while the name began to refer to the building or location where the court would usually meet. Amongst the lay and spiritual members of the Shire Court was the Shire Reeve the king's representative and chief administrative officer.The shires themselves were divided into Hundreds which each had their own Hundred Court and Hundred Reeve.This whole system of government was replaced in the 19th Century with the introduction of county councils.

History: Anglo-Saxons

After the Romans left, Britain was open to invasion by the various Germanic peoples from the Baltic area who had already been making raids on the 'Saxon Shore' in the days of the Empire. Invasions started around 400 AD.The Saxons were a Germanic tribe from the Danish peninsula and northern Germany. Their territories originally reached as far as the Rhine but Saxony was conquered by Charlemagne in 792. Under pressure from the Franks, they migrated to various parts of Europe including Britain and pursued piracy in the North Sea and English Channel. They settled in Essex, Sussex and Wessex.The Jutes were a Germanic people who may have originated in the Rhineland, rather than Jutland in Denmark, and later settled in Frankish territory. In around 450 AD, they occupied Kent under Hengist and Horsa and conquered the isle of Wight and the Hampshire coast in the early C6th.The Angles came from the German/Danish border area, now Schleswig-Holstein and may have been united with the Saxons before invading Britain. They settled largely in East Anglia, Mercia and Northumbria.By the end of the C6th, the tribal settlements had become seven kingdoms (the Heptarchy) and by the first decade of the C7th, Northumbria was dominant with its king bearing the titles of Rex Anglorum and being accepted as the bretwalda or overlord of the others. Although the tendency is to think of the people that the Normans conquered as 'The Saxons', they were actually a mixture of the various groups and the language now known as Old English, was a combination of several Germanic tongues which developed into Middle English after the second Germanic influx, that of the Norsemen. This took place in several stages, with the Danes arriving by 800 AD and the Norwegians in the north-west by about 900 AD. The third wave of Germanic invasion was that of the Normans. They had only been in France for a few generations but their language and naming system were already heavily influenced, with many old Germanic names taking on 'Normanised' forms.The kingdoms were eventually united under the kings of Wessex. During the reign of King Alfred in the C9th, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was begun. Written by monks, it provides a record of history from the Roman invasion to 1154 and an illustration of the development of Old English prose.Anglo-Saxon Rulers In the Anglo-Saxon period, England was divided into small kingdoms. They are known as the Heptarchy (lit 'rule of seven') as there were usually seven of them although the number varied occasionally due to amalgamations and divisions. They formed a loose confederation under a single king, the most powerful amongst them who was acknowledged as head king or bretwalda and were eventually united under the kings of Wessex.

Northumbria and Bernicia

The kingdom of Northumbria, the most northern of the Saxon Heptarchy, was formed when Bernicia and Deira were united. Its most powerful period was during the C7th under Edwin, Oswald and Oswy but it declined after the latter's death and became part of the Viking kingdom of York after the last recorded king, Egbert II, died around 878.Kings Monarch Reign Lineage Spouse Ida of Bernicia 547-59 BearnochGlappa 559-60 Son of Ida Adda 560-8 '' Aethelric 568-72 '' Theodric 572-9 '' Frithuwald 579-85/6 '' Hussa 585/6-92/3 '' Aethelfrith 593-616 son of Aethelric 1 Bebba2 Acha daughter of Aelle of Deira3 ?Edwin 616-33 Son of Aelle of Deira Aethelburh daughter of Aethelbehrt I KentEanfrith 633-4 Son of Aethelfrith + 1 Pictish princessSt Oswald 634-41 son of Aethelfrith + 2 Cyneburg, daughter of Cynegils of WessexOswy 641-70 Son of Aethelfrith + 3 1 Rhiainfellt of Rheged (Riemmelth)2 Eanfled of Deira3 Fina (mistress)Aethelwald c 651-4 Bernicia nephew of Eanfrith Ecgfrith 670-85 Son of Oswy + 2 1 Aethelthryth (Etheldreda) d of Anna of East Anglia2 EormenburgAldfrith 685-704 Son of Oswy + 3 Cuthburh, sister of Ine of WessexOsred I 704-16 Son of Aldfrith Coenred 716-8 son of Cuthwine, descendant of Ida Osric 718-29 Gs of Oswy Ceolwulf 729-37 d 760, a monk brother of Coenred Eadbehrt 737-58 d 768 cousin of Ceolwulf Oswulf 758-9 son of Eadbehrt RicthrythAethelwald Moll 759-65 AethelthrythAlchred 765-74 Desc of Ida of Bernicia Osgyfu d of Oswulf Aethelred I 774-778/9 2 Aelfflaed, daughter of Offa of Mercia Aelfwald I 778/9-88 son of Oswulf Osred II 788-92 son of Alhred Egbert II 876-8

Mercia

This kingdom in central England between Northumbria and Wessex was founded c 585. It declined after the death of Offa in 796 and was eventually absorbed by Wessex. In 873, King Burhred was driven out by the Danes who settled in East Mercia in 877, leaving West Mercia to Ceolwulf, their puppet king. His reign ended about 883 and Ealdorman Ethelred acknowledged Alfred the Great of Wessex as overlord.

East Anglia

The kings of the East Angles were called the Wuffings after Wuffa who probably founded the kingdom. His grandson Redwald is probably the man buried at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk. The last king was St Edmund who was killed by the Danes in 869.

Kent

Before about 449, the founder of the kingdom, Hengest, and his brother, Horsa, were invited to come from Jutland to help the British king, Vortigern, defend himself against the Picts and Scots. The ruling family were called 'Oiscings' after Hengest's son, Oeric Oisc.

Monarch Reign Lineage SpouseHengest 455-88 Son of Wihtgils Aesc (Oeric Oisc) 488-512 Son of Hengest Octa 512-40 Son of Aesc Eormenric 540-60 Son of Octa Aethelbehrt I 560-616 Son of Eormenric Bertha, daughter of Caribert I, King of Paris?2 name unknownEadbald 616-40 son of Aethelbert I 1 stepmother '?'2 Emma (Ymme) d of Clothacar (Clotaire) King of the FranksEorcenberht 640-64 Younger son of Eadbald Seaxburh d Anna of East AngliaEormenraed joint king? Elder son of Eadbald Oslafa/Oslava Egbert I 664-73 son of Eorcenbehrt Hlothhere Swaebhard 673-85 676-92 son of Eorcenbehrt son of Sebbi of Essex Eadric 674-86 joint king son of Egbert Oswini 688-9 joint king Wihtred 690-725 son of Egbert 1 Cynegyth 2 Ethelburga 3 WerbergaAethelbehrt IIEadbehrt IIAlric 725-62 725-48 725- Son of Wihtred + 1 '' Son of Wihtred + 3 Eardwulf c 747-jointly Son of Eadbehrt I Egbert II 765-80 Son of Aethelbehrt II Ealhmund Fl 784/6 sub king Son of Eafa of Wessex Dau of Aethelbert II? Eadbehrt II Praen 796-8 Son of Aethelbehrt II Cuthred 798-807 bro of Coenwulf + CeolwulfI of Mercia Baldred -825 driven out by E III Egbert III 825-39 (also Wessex + England) Son of Ealhmund Raedburh/RedburgaAethelstan 839-51 sub-king + Essex, Surrey, Sussex Son or gs of Egbert III Bro (or uncle) of Alfred the Great

Wessex

The kingdom of the West Saxons, founded by Cerdic, expanded to cover most of southern England during the C6th and 7th. Under Egbert (802-39) it also gained control of Northumbria and Mercia. The later kings are also credited as the first kings of all England but Wessex declined after the death of Edgar in 975 and the throne was later lost to Danish invaders.

Monarch Reign Lineage SpouseCerdic 519-34 Came to Britain c 495 -Creoda Son of Cerdic - Cynric d 560 son of Creoda or Cerdic - Ceawlin 560-92 son of Cynric -Ceol 591-7 son of Cutha, brother of Ceawlin -Ceolwulf 597-611 brother of Ceol -Cynegils 611-41 son of Ceolwulf or Ceol -Coenbehrt d 661 sub king grandson of Ceawlin Cenwalh 641-72 son of Cynegils Dau Pybba of Mercia2? SeaxburhSeaxburh/Sexburga 672-3/4 Widow of Cenwalh Cenfus 673/4 Son of Cenferth s of Cuthgils, s of Ceolwulf Aescwine 674-6 Son of Cenfus Centwine 676-85 Bro of Cenwalh Caedwalla 685-8 abd to go to Rome as pilgrim son of Coenbehrt CenthrythIne 688-726 abd to go to Rome as pilgrim son of Cenred, desc of Ceawlin EthelburgaEthelheard 726-40 Bro of Ethelburga Desc of CerdicFrithugythCuthred 740-56 Claimed desc from Cerdic (maybe bro of E) Sigebehrt 756-7 dep ''Cynewulf 757-86 '' Beohrtric 786-802 Bro of Cynewulf? Eadburh, daughter of Offa of MerciaEgbert 802-39 + England Son of Ealhmund, sub-king in Kent RedburgaEarl Godwine 1018-53 Father of Harold II of England Gytha, daughter of Jarl Thorgils

Kings of England

The kings of Wessex became overlords of all the Saxon kingdoms and were later recognised as kings of all England with the other kingdoms remaining as earldoms. Princes of the royal family were called 'Athelings' because they descended from Aethelwulf.

Anglo Saxon Names

Only a personal name was given. This was often made up of two elements, often linked in some way with the parents' names. For instance, Aldred and Edith might call their daughter Aldith as some elements were suitable for males and females. These dithematic names did not necessarily have any link in meaning between their two elements. They were more popular with the later Anglo-Saxons with the monothematic, or single element, names acquiring a lower-class association.As the various permutations produced a large number of different names, few duplications would have occurred in a particular settlement. Surnames were not necessary for identification purposes although bynames were sometimes used. It was also considered that a name contained a person's spirit and using it for a new-born child could drain that spirit from him. Although there was no inherited surname, some families (usually aristocratic) were identified by collective name taken from a famous forebear such as the Athelings, Gumeningas, Besingas, Baducings, Guthlacingas, the final ‘-ing’ element signifying ‘people of’.

Monothematic NamesMany of these originated as bynames or nicknames and were not always complimentary. They seem to have had a more low-status association than the dithematic or two element names. Forms ending in ‘-el’, ‘ela’ and ‘-la’ are usually diminutives, probably taken from one element of a dithematic name.

Anglo-Saxon Religion

GodsThe Germanic deities who figure in the Old Norse pantheon were also followed by most of the peoples who settled in England although Christianity soon took over. There is literary evidence for many of the same stories and beliefs amongst them although the legend of Ragnarok is exclusive to Scandinavia.

Anglo-Saxon Calendar

The year began on 25th December. Boxing night was called modra nect or ‘mother's night’ after the ceremonies that Bede says were performed then.12 + 1 Giuli last month of old and first of new year2 Solmonath ‘when cakes were offfered to the gods' says Bede 3 Hretha -4 Eostre Easter5 Thrimilci cows milked three times a day 6 + 7 Litha possibly 'moon'8 Weodmonath 'weedmonth'9 Halegmonath 'holy month' (harvest festival?)10 Wintirfyllith 'winter full moon' (first full moon of winter?) 11 Blotmonath 'blood month' (sacrifice of animals that would not survive winter)

England: Bill of Rights

constitution

Bible Oaths

Malmesbury

Secretary of State Kissinger

oath of office

Jewish Talmud

oath

France: Tennis Court Oath at the time of the Revolution

All for one and one for all

King James 1 of England making an Oath before Parliament

oath to country

King John Oath by signing the Magna Carta

constitution

Roland Fealty Oath to Charlemagne

most important to keep an oath

Anglo-Saxon Oath

An oath (from Anglo-Saxon āð, also called plight) is either a promise or a statement of fact calling upon something or someone that the oath maker considers sacred, usually God, as a witness to the binding nature of the promise or the truth of the statement of fact. To swear is to take an oath, to make a solemn vow.The essence of a divine oath is an invocation of divine agency to be a guarantor of the oath taker's own honesty and integrity in the matter under question. By implication, this invokes divine displeasure if the oath taker fails in their sworn duties. It therefore implies greater care than usual in the act of the performance of one's duty, such as in testimony to the facts of the matter in a court of law.A person taking an oath indicates this in a number of ways. The most usual is the explicit "I swear," but any statement or promise that includes "with * as my witness" or "so help me *," with '*' being something or someone the oath-taker holds sacred, is an oath. Many people take an oath by holding in their hand or placing over their head a book of scripture or a sacred object, thus indicating the sacred witness through their action: such an oath is called corporal. However, the chief purpose of such an act is for ceremony or solemnity, and the act does not of itself make an oath.There is confusion between oaths and other statements or promises. The current Olympic Oath, for instance, is really a pledge and not properly an oath since there is only a "promise" and no appeal to a sacred witness. Oaths are also confused with vows, but really a vow is a special kind of oath.In law, oaths are made by a witness to a court of law before giving testimony and usually by a newly-appointed government officer to the people of a state before taking office. In both of those cases, though, an affirmation can be usually substituted. A written statement, if the author swears the statement is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, is called an affidavit. The oath given to support an affidavit is frequently administered by a notary public who will memorialize the giving of the oath by affixing her or his seal to the document. Breaking an oath (or affirmation) is perjury.

Greco-Roman traditionIn the Greco-Roman Tradition, oaths were sworn upon Iuppiter Lapis or the Jupiter Stone located in the Temple of Jupiter, Capitoline Hill. Iuppiter Lapis was held in the Greco-Roman Tradition to be an Oath Stone, an aspect of Jupiter is his role as divine law-maker responsible for order and used principally for the investiture of the oathtaking of office.Bailey (1907) states:We have, for instance, the sacred stone (silex) which was preserved in the temple of Iuppiter on the Capitol, and was brought out to play a prominent part in the ceremony of treaty-making. The fetial, who on that occasion represented the Roman people, at the solemn moment of the oath-taking, struck the sacrificial pig with the silex, saying as he did so, 'Do thou, Diespiter, strike the Roman people as I strike this pig here to-day, and strike them the more, as thou art greater and stronger.' Here no doubt the underlying notion is not merely symbolical, but in origin the stone is itself the god, an idea which later religion expressed in the cult-title specially used in this connection, Iuppiter Lapis.Walter Burkert has shown that since Lycurgus of Athens (d. 324 BC), who held that "it is the oath which holds democracy together", religion, morality and political organization had been linked by the oath, and the oath and its prerequisite altar had become the basis of both civil and criminal, as well as international law.

Jewish traditionThe concept of oaths is deeply rooted within the Judaism. It is found in Genesis 8:21, when God swears that he will "never again curse the ground because of man and never again smite every living thing." This repetition of the term never again is explained by Rashi, the preeminent biblical commentator, as serving as an oath, citing the Talmud for this ruling.The first personage in the biblical tradition to take an oath is held to be Eliezer, the chief servant of Abraham, when the latter requested of the former that he not take a wife for his son Issac from the daughters of Canaan, but rather from among Abraham's own family. In the Judeo-Christian Tradition, this is held as the origination of the concept that it is required to hold a sacred object in one's hand when taking an oath. Because circumcision was the first commandment Abraham performed and was therefore so dear to him on both a spiritual as well as a personal level, Abraham had Eliezer take hold of his genitals.

Christian traditionAs late as 1880, Charles Bradlaugh was denied a seat as an MP in the Parliament of the United Kingdom as because of his professed atheism he was judged unable to swear the Oath of Allegiance in spite of his proposal to swear the oath as a "matter of form".Various religious groups have objected to the taking of oaths, most notably the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and Mennonites. This is principally based on Matthew 5:34-37, the Antithesis of the Law. Here, Christ is written to say "I say to you: 'Swear not at all'". The Apostle James stated in James 5:12, "Above all, my brothers, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your "Yes" be yes, and your "No," no, or you will be condemned."Not all Christians follow this reading, because of the statements in the Old Testament. Jews also avoid taking oaths, as making a false oath, even unintentionally so, would violate a Biblical commandment in Leviticus 19:12.Opposition to oath-taking caused many problems for these groups throughout their history. Quakers were frequently imprisoned because of their refusal to swear loyalty oaths. Testifying in court was also difficult; George Fox, Quakers' founder, famously challenged a judge who had asked him to swear, saying that he would do so once the judge could point to any Bible passage where Jesus or his apostles took oaths. (The judge could not, but this did not allow Fox to escape punishment.) Legal reforms from the 18th century onwards mean that everyone in the United Kingdom now has the right to make a solemn affirmation instead of an oath. The United States has permitted affirmations since it was founded; it is explicitly mentioned in the Constitution. Only two US Presidents, Franklin Pierce and Herbert Hoover (who was a Quaker), have chosen to affirm rather than swear at their inaugurations.

Germanic traditionGermanic warrior culture was significantly based on oaths of fealty, directly continued into medieval notions of chivalry.A prose passage inserted in the eddic poem Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar relates:Hedin was coming home alone from the forest one Yule-eve, and found a troll-woman; she rode on a wolf, and had snakes in place of a bridle. She asked Hedin for his company. "Nay," said he. She said, "Thou shalt pay for this at the bragarfull." That evening the great vows were taken; the sacred boar was brought in, the men laid their hands thereon, and took their vows at the bragarfull. Hedin vowed that he would have Sváva, Eylimi's daughter, the beloved of his brother Helgi; then such great grief seized him that he went forth on wild paths southward over the land, and found Helgi, his brother.Such Norse traditions are directly parallel to the "bird oaths" of late medieval France, such as the voeux du faisan (oath on the pheasant) or the (fictional) voeux du paon (oath on the peacock).

An oath of allegiance is an oath whereby a subject or citizen acknowledges his/her duty of allegiance and swears loyalty to his/her monarch or country. In many modern oaths of allegiance, allegiance is sworn to the Constitution. In particular, in the United States presidents, judges, and military personnel are under an oath to the Constitution. In Canada, oaths are sworn to the Canadian monarch.In feudal times a person would also swear allegiance to his feudal superiors. To this day the oath sworn by freemen of the City of London contains an oath of obedience to the Lord Mayor of the City of London.Oaths of allegiance are commonly required of newly-naturalised citizens (see Oath of Citizenship), members of the armed forces, and those assuming public (particularly parliamentary and judicial) office. Clergy in the Church of England are required to take an Oath of Supremacy acknowledging the authority of the British monarch.A typical example of an oath of allegiance is that sworn by Members of Parliament in the Netherlands:I swear (affirm) allegiance to the King, to the Statute for the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and to the Constitution. I swear (affirm) that I will faithfully perform the duties my office lays upon me. So help me God almighty! (This I declare and affirm) In many Commonwealth realms all that is required is an oath to the monarch, and not the constitution or state. There have been moves in some of the realms to make the oath of citizenship sworn by new citizens refer to the country rather than the monarch. However, the oaths sworn by judges, Members of Parliament, etc., have not been changed. In New South Wales, there are plans for MPs and Ministers' oaths to be made to "Australia" rather than the Queen. All of these moves have not succeeded as the Queen is the personification of Canadian, British, Australian (or any other Commonwealth realm) State. Allegiance sworn to the monarch is as same as to the country, its constitution, flag, etc. The New Zealand Oath of Allegiance still refers to the Queen of New Zealand. The European Court of Human Rights ruled in 1999 that the oath of allegiance to a reigning monarch is "reasonably viewed as an affirmation of loyalty to the constitutional principles which support... the workings of representative democracy in the respondent State

The Oath of Allegiance of the United Kingdom has its origin in an Oath of Allegiance in the Magna Carta signed on the 15 June 1215. "Once the terms had been finalised on 19 June, the rebels again swore allegiance to King John. The later Bill of Rights (1689) included the Oath of Allegiance to the crown, which was required by Magna Carta to be taken by all crown servants and members of the judiciary." Over the following centuries this evolved into three separate oaths; of Supremacy (repudiation of the spiritual or ecclesiastical authority of any foreign prince, person or prelate), Allegiance (declaration of fidelity to the Sovereign) and in 1702 Abjuration (repudiation of the right and title of descendants of James II to the throne). Oaths of allegiance were exacted from Lords, by Henry IV and Henry VI in 1455 and 1459, and oath of supremacy was introduced under Henry VIII in 1534. Elizabeth I introduced an Act of Supremacy in 1563 requiring an oath to be taken by all future Members of the House of Commons. A new oath of allegiance appeared under James I (prompted by the "Gunpowder Plot") under the Popish Recusants Act 1605, and the Oath of Allegiance Act 1609. This oath required recognition of James I as lawful King and renunciation of the Pope. The 1609 Act required Commons MPs to take the oath of allegiance and of supremacy, but this was not “parliamentary” oath, as it was not taken in Parliament, and there were no consequences if not sworn.After the Restoration, oaths of supremacy and allegiance were imposed upon all MPs and Peers in Parliament. In 1689, in an Act passed by William and Mary, old oaths of supremacy and allegiance were replaced with shorter ones, almost to its modern form: In 1701 the exiled king James II, died and the adherents of the Stuart claim and King Louis XIV of France proclaimed his son rightful king. The Act of Succession 1701 was quickly passed to address the new situation. It extended substantially the old oaths, and added an oath of abjuration of the Pretender's title. This oath pledged support for the Hanoverian succession and for the exclusion of the Stuarts.The Oaths of Allegiance etc and Relief of the Jews Act 1858 prescribed a single form of the oath in place of the former three. This single form retained a declaration of allegiance and a promise to defend the Hanoverian succession. A declaration relating to the supremacy of the Sovereign was also included and the oath continued to be made ’on the true faith of a Christian’ However, both of these latter elements disappeared from the revised version of the single oath that was subsequently prescribed in the Parliamentary Oaths Act 1866, which repealed much of the earlier pieces of legislation in so far as they related to oaths taken by Members of Parliament.Finally, in the Promissory Oaths Act 1868 a further curtailment to the oath was made, thereby establishing the form of the oath still used today. The direct religious content has disappeared along with the declarations relating to the supremacy of the Sovereign. In its current form, the oath conforms fairly closely to the medieval (feudal) oath of allegiance.After the general right to affirm was guaranteed in 1888, the Oaths Act 1909 introduced a change to the ordinary method of taking oaths, which provided for oaths to be sworn on the Bible: in case of a Christian, on the New Testament, and in the case of a Jew on the Old Testament. This Act also established the usual form of taking the oath, with the phrase “I swear by Almighty God that …”. Section 1 of the 1888 Oaths Act (on the right to affirm) was replaced in the Administration of Justice Act 1977.The Oaths Act 1961 extended the 1888 Act, but did not apply to Parliamentary Oaths. All of the provisions in the Oaths Acts of 1838, 1888, 1909, 1961 and 1977 were repealed and consolidated in the Oaths Act 1978, although the form of wording of the oath set out in the 1868 Act was preserved. The 1978 Oaths Act contains provisions relating to the manner of administering the oath, the option of swearing with uplifted hand, the validity of oaths, the making of solemn affirmations and the form of affirmation.The current Oath of Allegiance or Official Oath set out in the Promissory Oaths Act 1868 is required to be taken by various office-holders in the following form:"I, NAME, do swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, her heirs and successors, according to law. So help me God."

An oath of fealty, from the Latin fidelitas (faithfulness), is a pledge of allegiance of one person to another. Typically the oath is made upon a religious object such as a Bible or saint's relic, thus binding the oath-taker before God.In medieval Europe, fealty was sworn between two people, the obliged person (vassal) and a person of rank (lord). This was done as part of a formal commendation ceremony to create a feudal relationship. Such as a vassal to his lord.Fealty and homage are a key element of feudalism. Under the feudal system, the smallest unit of land a fief could own was called a fea or fee, giving rise to the term freehold.The term is also used by English-speakers to refer to similar oaths of allegiance in other feudal cultures, as with medieval Japan, as well as in modern political contexts.

Anglo-Saxon Dithematic Names

Only a personal name was given. This was often made up of two elements, often linked in some way with the parents' names. For instance, Aldred and Edith might call their daughter Aldith as some elements were suitable for males and females. These dithematic names did not necessarily have any link in meaning between their two elements. They were more popular with the later Anglo-Saxons with the monothematic, or single element, names acquiring a lower-class association. As the various permutations produced a large number of different names, few duplications would have occurred in a particular settlement. Surnames were not necessary for identification purposes although bynames were sometimes used. It was also considered that a name contained a person's spirit and using it for a new-born child could drain that spirit from him. Although there was no inherited surname, some families (usually aristocratic) were identified by collective name taken from a famous forebear such as the Athelings, Gumeningas, Besingas, Baducings, Guthlacingas, the final '-ing' element signifying 'people of'.

London river bank 1616

surrounded by countryside

London North River Bank 1615

many spires

London Bridge

with heads above its gate on spears

Character in Bernard Cornwell's Saxon Series: Halfdan

Halfdan was one of the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok. It has been suggested that he is the same person as Ragnar's son Hvitserk. He pillaged with his brothers in England in 855, and later became a leader of the Great Heathen Army. He was the ruler of London 871–872 where he had coins made.In 875, he conquered Northumbria where he became king. He was widely unpopular due to his alleged cruelty. He was expelled from York and died during a new Viking expedition in 877.Preceded by none King of Jórvík 875–877 Succeeded by Guthfrith

Wool

WoolEngland had been a wool exporting country since before the Norman Conquest. The Emperor Charlemagne back in the 8th century A.D. was insisting on woollen cloaks being sent to him from the north of England. The West Riding of Yorkshire became an important wool area for the same reasons that made Lancashire a cotton area: climate and geology.The high millstone grit of the Pennines is unsuitable for growing crops and the grass it supports is too sparse and coarse for cattle. Sheep, however, can survive on it. There is less rain than in Lancashire, but enough to keep the streams flowing and provide the water necessary for producing woollen cloth.Just as in Lancashire weaving was an adjunct to small scale farming. All the family would be involved; the children carding, the wife spinning and the husband weaving and cultivating his bit of land, where oats could be grown for oat cakes, the staple diet. Cloth pieces would be taken on market days to the Piece Hall at Halifax, Almondbury or Huddersfield.Water power was later used, first in fulling mills, where great wooden hammers beat the cloth until the fibres interlocked, and later in the weaving mills. It is claimed that Halifax, benefitting from more steep streams continued with water power long after neighbouring Bradford had adopted steam, and consequently never quite caught up.The coming of the canals and the turnpike roads boosted the industry, but it was the introduction of worsted weaving, which saw the great expansion of the trade in Yorkshire. Originally an East Anglian industry, it arrived in Yorkshire in the 18th century and was soon rivalling the output of Norwich in quantity, if not quality. Worsted cloths were woven of longer, finer fibres than woollen cloths, and were stronger.It was as a result of mechanisation that Yorkshire eclipsed East Anglia, and by the 19th century Bradford had replaced Norwich as the centre of the worsted industry. Mechanisation of spinning was crucial. The first worsted spinning mill was actually built near Lancaster at Dolphinholme, but mills began to be built in Yorkshire, initially water-powered, but by 1800 steam driven mills were being built in Bradford.One of the best known and biggest worsted mills in Yorkshire, indeed the world was John Foster & Son Ltd, whose Black Dyke Mills were at Queensbury, a hilltop village, 1100 feet above sea-level, mid-way between Bradford and Halifax. The founder John Foster came from nearby Clayton. He married Ruth Briggs, whose family owned land in Queensbury. He began by putting yarn out to be woven, collecting the finished pieces and selling them at the Piece Hall in Halifax. Later he built a warehouse in Queensbury. The warehouse became a mill, the mill expanded and John Foster prospered, so much so that he later bought Hornby Castle near Lancaster as the family home.After the sale he wandered into an inn on his newly acquired estate. John Foster was famous for affecting the dress and manner of an ordinary working man. The landlord who was engaged in conversation with some of his customers of the 'better class', ordered Foster into the taproom. He joined him later and condescended to share his woes with him.

The Cambridge history of western textiles, Volume 2 By David Jenkins "The estate's been bought by one of them Yorkshire mill owners," he said. "I've a new landlord." "Aye, that's right," John Foster replied. "It's me."The English Wool Trade in the Middle Ages By T. H. LloydThe monastic order in Yorkshire, 1069-1215 By Janet E. Burton

Amlab Penny Coin

showing Raven and Cross

Amlab coin showing Raven Banner Reverse

Minted at York

Viking Coprolite

found at York

Amlab Mac Godfraid

coin

River Fleet

London

London Map 1300

showing Roman boundaries

Kensington Palace from across long water

London

Richmond Park

London

Regeants Park 1833

London

Hyde Park 1883

London

Green Park

London

London Bridge 1616

London Bridge Sold to America

British Museum

London

Madam Tussauds

Museum

London Strreet During the Blitz

World War ll

Medieval Wales

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Thegn

Map of runestones raised over a thegn in Scandinavia. Red dots indicate certain occurrences while blue indicate stones that may mention the junior position "drengr" insteadThe term thegn (or thane in Shakespearean English), from OE þegn, ðegn "servant, attendant, retainer", is commonly employed by historians to describe either an aristocratic retainer of a king or nobleman in Anglo-Saxon England, or as a class term, the majority of the aristocracy below the ranks of ealdormen and high-reeves. It is also the term for an early medieval Scandinavian class of retainers.

EtymologyOld English þeg(e)n "servant, attendant, retainer" is cognate with Old High German degan and Old Norse þegn ("thane, franklin, freeman, man").

The thegn had a military significance, and its usual Latin translation was miles, meaning soldier, although minister was often used. Joseph Bosworth describes a thegn as "one engaged in a king's or a queen's service, whether in the household or in the country," and adds, "the word in this case seems gradually to acquire a technical meaning, and to become a term denoting a class, containing, however, several degrees."But, like all other words of the kind, the word thegn was slowly changing its meaning, and, as William Stubbs says (Constitutional History, vol. i.), "the very name, like that of the gesith, has different senses in different ages and kingdoms, but the original idea of military service runs through all the meanings of thegn, as that of personal association is traceable in all the applications of gesith."

After the Norman Conquest, William replaced the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy with Normans and the new Norman French ruling class replaced the Anglo-Saxon terminology with Norman French. In this process, king's thegns became barons, and thegns appear to have been merged in the class of knights.

Gesith and thegnsThe precursor of the thegn was the gesith, the companion of the king or great lord, a member of his comitatus, and the word thegn began to be used to describe a military gesith.It is only used once in the laws before the time of Aethelstan (c. 895-940), but more frequently in the charters. H. M. Chadwick (Studies on Anglo-Saxon Institutions, 1905) says that "the sense of subordination must have been inherent in the word from the earliest time," but it has no connection with the German dienen, to serve. In the course of time it extended its meaning and was more generally used. The thegn became a member of a territorial nobility, and the dignity of thegnhood was attainable by those who fulfilled certain conditions. The nobility of pre-Conquest England was ranked according to the heriot they paid in the following descending order: earl, king's thegn, median thegn. In Anglo-Saxon hierarchic society, a king's thegn attended in person upon the king, bringing with him his men and resources. A "median" thegn did not hold his land directly from the king but through an intermediary lord. StatusThe thegn was inferior to the ætheling, the member of a kingly family, but he was superior to the ceorl, and, says Chadwick, "from the time of Aethelstan the distinction between thegn and ceorl was the broad line of demarcation between the classes of society." His status is shown by his wergild. Over a large part of England this was fixed at 1200 shillings, or six times that of the ceorl. He was the twelfhynde man of the laws, sharply divided from the twyhynde man or ceorl.

Geþyncðo, Rectitudines Singularum Personarum and Norðleoda lagaIn a document known as "Of people's ranks and laws," we learn: "And if a ceorl throve, so that he had fully five hides of his own land, church and kitchen, bellhouse and burh-gate-seat, and special duty in the king's hail, then was he thenceforth of thegn-right worthy." A hide of land was considered sufficient to support a family. And again—"And if a merchant throve, so that he fared thrice over the wide sea by his own means, then was he thenceforth of thegn-right worthy". In a similar manner a successful thegn might hope to become an earl. In addition to the thegns there were others who were thegns on account of their birth, and thus thegnhood was partly inherited and partly acquired.

Thegns and local administrationThe twelve senior thegns of the hundred play a part, the nature of which is rather doubtful, in the development of the English system of justice. By a law of Aethelred they "seem to have acted as the judicial committee of the court for the purposes of accusation" (W.S. Holdsworth, History of English Law, vol. i. 1903), and thus they have some connexion with the grand jury of modern times.

Growing classThe increase in the number of thegns produced in time a subdivision of the order. There arose a class of king's thegns, corresponding to the earlier thegns, and a larger class of inferior thegns, some of them the thegns of bishops or of other thegns. A king's thegn was a person of great importance, the contemporary idea being shown by the Latin translation of the words as comes (compare "count"). He had certain special privileges. No one save the king had the right of jurisdiction over him, while by a law of Canute we learn that he paid a larger heriot than an ordinary thegn.

After the Conquest Taini in Domesday BookIn Domesday Book, OE þegn has become tainus in the Latin form, but the word does not imply high status. Domesday Book lists the taini who hold lands directly from the king at the end of their respective counties, but the term became devalued, partly because there were so many thegns.

ThanesThe word thane was used in Scotland until the 15th century, to describe a hereditary non-military tenant of the crown. Possibly the best-known holder of the title thane is William Shakespeare's character Macbeth, who is identified in the play as the Thane of Cawdor.

AnalogiesCompare the separate development of the concept of "vassal", from a warlord's henchman to one of Charlemagne's great companions.

References and Sources Northvegr - Zoëga's A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic Anglo-Saxon Dictionary edited by Joseph Bosworth, T. Northcote Toller and Alistair Campbell, ISBN 0198631014, Oxford University Press,, 1972 H. R. Loyn, "Gesiths and Thegns in Anglo-Saxon England from the Seventh to the Tenth Century" The English Historical Review 70, No. 277 (Oct.ober1955), pp. 529-549 traces the evolution of gesith to thegn. Select Charters and Other Illustrations of English Constitutional History from the Earliest Times to the Reign of Edward the First by William Stubbs, Oxford University Press, 1960.This entry retains some updated public domain text originally from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.Richard P. Abels, Lordship and military obligation in Anglo-Saxon England, 1988

Blood Feuds

A blood feud is a feud with a cycle of retaliatory violence, with the relatives of someone who has been killed or otherwise wronged or dishonored seeking vengeance by killing or otherwise physically punishing the culprits or their relatives. Historically, the word vendetta has been used to mean a blood feud. The word is Italian, and originates from the Latin vindicta (vengeance). In modern times, the word is sometimes extended to mean any other long-standing feud, not necessarily involving bloodshed.In ancient Homeric Greece, the practice of personal vengeance against wrongdoers was considered natural and customary: "Embedded in the Greek morality of retaliation is the right of vendetta . . . Vendetta is a war, just as war is an indefinite series of vendettas; and such acts of vengeance are sanctioned by the gods".In the ancient tribal Hebraic context, it was considered the duty of the individual and family to avenge evil on behalf of God. The executor of the law of blood-revenge who personally put the initial aggressive killer to death was given a special designation: go'el haddam, the blood-avenger or blood-redeemer (Num. 35: 19, etc.). Six cities of refuge were established to provide a "cooling off" phase as well as due process for the accused. As the Oxford Companion to the Bible states: "Since life was viewed as sacred (Gen. 9.6), no amount of blood money could be given as recompense for the loss of the life of an innocent person; it had to be 'life for life'" (Exod. 21.23; Deut. 19.21)".The Middle Ages, from beginning to end, and particularly the feudal era, lived under the sign of private vengeance. The onus, of course, lay above all on the wronged individual; vengeance was imposed on him as the most sacred of duties ... The solitary individual, however, could do but little. Moreover, it was most commonly a death that had to be avenged. In this case the family group went into action and the faide (feud) came into being, to use the old Germanic word which spread little by little through the whole of Europe--'the vengeance of the kinsmen which we call faida', as a German canonist expressed it. No moral obligation seemed more sacred than this ... The whole kindred, therefore, placed as a rule under the command of a chieftain, took up arms to punish the murder of one of its members or merely a wrong that he had suffered.—Marc Bloch, trans. L. A. Manyon, Feudal Society, Vol. I, 1965, p. 125-126The Celtic phenomenon of the blood feud demanded "an eye for an eye," and usually descended into murder. Disagreements between clans might last for generations in Scotland and Ireland. Due to the Celtic heritage of many whites living in Appalachia, a series of prolonged violent engagements in late- nineteenth-century Kentucky and West Virginia were referred to commonly as feuds, a tendency that was partly due to the nineteenth-century popularity of William Shakespeare and Sir Walter Scott, authors who both wrote semihistorical accounts of blood feuds. These incidents, the most famous of which was the Hatfield-McCoy feud, were regularly featured in the newspapers of the eastern U.S. between the 1880s and the early twentieth century. Although they were interpreted as such at the time, there is little reason to believe that these American incidents had any correlation to "feuding" in Europe centuries earlier.Chariot racing in the Byzantine Empire also included the racing clubs. The Blues and the Greens were more than simply sports teams. They gained influence in military, political, and theological matters. The Blue-Green rivalry often erupted into gang warfare, and street violence had been on the rise in the reign of Justin I. Riots culminated in the Nika riots of 532 AD during the reign of Justinian I, with nearly half the city being burned or destroyed and tens of thousands of people killed.In Japan's feudal past the Samurai class upheld the honor of their family, clan, or their lord by katakiuchi (敵討ち), or revenge killings. These killings could also involve the relatives of an offender. While some vendettas were punished by the government, such as that of the 47 Ronin, others were given official permission with specific targets.At the Holy Roman Empire's Reichstag at Worms in 1495 the right of waging feuds was abolished. The Imperial Reform proclaimed an "eternal public peace" (Ewiger Landfriede) to put an end to the abounding feuds and the anarchy of the robber barons and it defined a new standing imperial army to enforce that peace. However, it took a few more decades until the new regulation was universally accepted. In 1506, for example, knight Jan Kopidlansky killed somebody in Prague and the Town Councillors sentenced him to death and had him executed. Brother Jiri Kopidlansky revenged himself by continuing atrocities.More than a third of the Ya̧nomamö males, on average, died from warfare. The accounts of missionaries to the area have recounted constant infighting in the tribes for women or prestige, and evidence of continuous warfare for the enslavement of neighboring tribes such as the Macu before the arrival of European settlers and government

Weregild

Weregild (alternative spellings: wergild, wergeld, weregeld, etc.) in early Germanic law was a reparational payment usually demanded of a person guilty of homicide or other wrongful death.The payment of weregild was an important legal mechanism in early Germanic society; the other common form of legal reparation at this time was blood revenge. The payment was typically made to the family or to the clan.No distinction was made between murder and manslaughter until these distinctions were instituted by the Holy Roman imperial law in the 12th century. Payment of the weregild was gradually replaced with capital punishment, starting around the 9th century, and almost entirely by the 12th century when it began to cease as a practice throughout the Holy Roman Empire

EtymologyThe word weregild is composed of were, a word meaning "man" (as in werewolf) and geld, meaning "payment, fee", as in Danegeld. Geld is the Old English word for money, and is still the Dutch and German word for money. The Yiddish word for money is gelt, also in common use in slang modern Hebrew. In Danish the word is gæld and means "debt".The same concept outside Germanic culture is known as blood money. Native terms include ericfine in Ireland and galanas in Wales, "vira" ("вира") in Russia and główczyzna in Poland.

AmountThe standard weregeld for a freeman appears to have been 200 solidi (shillings) in the Migration period, an amount reflected as the basic amount due for the death of a ceorl both in Anglo-Saxon and continental law codes. This fee could however be multiplied according to the social rank of the victim and the circumstances of the crime. For example, the 8th century Lex Alamannorum sets the weregeld for a duke or archbishop at three times the basic value (600 shillings), while the killing of a low ranking cleric was fined with 300, raised to 400 if the cleric was attacked while he was reading mass.The size of the weregild was largely conditional upon the social rank of the victim. A regular freeman (ceorl) was worth 200 shillings in 9th century Mercian law (twyhyndeman), a nobleman was worth 1200 (twelfhyndeman). The law code even mentions the weregeld for a king, at 30000, composed of 15000 for the man, paid to the royal family, and 15000 for the kingship, paid to the people. An archbishop is likewise valued at 15000. The weregild for a Welshman was 110 if he owned at least one hide of land, and 80 if he was landless.Thralls and slaves technically commanded no weregild, but it was commonplace to make a nominal payment in the case of a thrall and the value of the slave in such a case. A shilling was defined as the value of a cow in Kent or elsewhere, a sheep. The weregild for women relative to that of men of equal rank varied: Among the Alamanni, it was double the weregild of men, among the Saxons half that of men.

In literatureA classic example of a dispute over the weregild of a slave is contained in Iceland's Egil's Saga.In the Story of Grettir the Strong, chapter 27, The Suit for the Slaying of Thorgils Makson, Thorgeir conveys to court Thorgils Arison's offer of weregild as atonement for killing Thorgils Makson.In the epic poem Beowulf, at lines 456-472, Hroðgar recalls the story of how Ecgþeow (Beowulf's father) once came to him for help, for he had slain Heaðolaf, a man from another tribe called the Wulfings, and either couldn't pay the wergild or they refused to accept it. Hroðgar had married Wealhþeow, who probably belonged to the Wulfing tribe, and was able to use his kinship ties to persuade the Wulfings to accept the wergild and end the feud. Hroðgar sees Beowulf's offer as a son's gratitude for what Hroðgar had done for Beowulf's father.

Canute, King of the English: On Heriots and Reliefs, c.1016-1035

The Saxon heriot or succession duty was paid on the death of a thegn and originally took the form of the return of military equipment which was surrendered to the king. Subsequently it assumed the form of a payment in kind and in money (the relief) and in Norman times the money payment alone was exacted from the heir. It thus became a feudal burden associated with tenure.72. And let the heriots be as it is fitting to the degree. An eorl's such as thereto belongs, that is, eight horses, four saddled and four unsaddled, and four helmets and four coats of mail, and eight spears and as many shields, and four swords and 200 mancuses of gold. And after that, a king's thegn's, of those who are nearest to him; four horses, two saddled and two unsaddled, and two swords and four spears and as many shields, and a helmet and a coat of mail and fifty mancuses of gold. And of the medial thegn's, a horse and his trappings and his arms; or his 'healsfang' in Wessex; and in Mercia two pounds; and in East Anglia two pounds. And the heriot of a king's thegn among the Danes who has his soken, four pounds. And if he have further relation to the king, two horses, one saddled and the other unsaddled, and one sword and two spears and two shields and fifty mancuses of gold; and he who is of less means, two pounds.The relief of a count, which belongs to the king, is eight horses, of which four will be saddled and bridled and with them four breast-plates, four helmets, four lances, four shields, and four swords. The other four horses will be palfreys and post horses with reins and bridles. The relief of a baron is four horses of which two will be saddled and bridled and two breast-plates with them, two shields, two helmets, two lances, two swords. Of the other two horses, one will be a palfrey and the other a post horse, with reins and bridles. The relief of a vavasor, to his liege lord, is a horse which belonged to his father on the day of the latter's death; and a breast plate, helmet, shield, lance, and sword. And if by chance he do not have these, he may acquit himself with payment of one hundred shillings. The relief of a villein is his best animal; whether it be an ox, or horse, it will be his lord's. The relief of him who holds land at an annual rent shall be as much as the rent of one year.

The Title Thegn on Rune Stones

titles, runes, stones

The Title Thegn on Rune Stones

On a previous page I spelled the name Farthegn with letters from the 24-character 'elder futhark' (the runic alphabet). During the Viking Age this futhark was shortened to only 16 characters, requiring certain letters to do double duty. For example, since the letter "e" was no longer used, the e-rune had to be represented by the i-rune. The g-rune was sometimes replaced by the k-rune. As a result, the word thegn was spelled "thikn", "thign", and even "thiakna" on some rune stones."Thegn" was also used as a Scandinavian personal name and, like thousands of other personal names, eventually developed into an English surname (in this instance, the surnames Thain, Thaine, and Thayne). From Runes and Their Origin, Denmark and Elsewhere, by Erik Moltke (The National Museum of Denmark, 1985):page 189: "Titles like thegn and drengr most probably belong in the military sphere, the first used of veterans, the second of younger warriors."page 267: "We may presume that the ranks of the retinue were filled by 'thegns', 'drengs', and 'svens', (Old Norse thegn, drengr, sveinn), all recruited from the best families in the country (and abroad)."page 285-6: Svend Aakjaer "maintained that the Scandinavian 'thegns' and 'drengs' were -- like their Anglo-Saxon counterparts -- royal 'servants', members of the group of nobles, who gave the king personal service and other members of his retinue or bodyguard." Since the earliest Danish example of the word 'thegn' on a rune stone is "associated with lith, host, warband or the like, we may reasonably assume it denoted a kind of military status. 'Thegn' is then a title of rank (cf. the man dubbed Knight in the Middle Ages or commissioned as an officer today)."page 287-8: "We may assume that 'thegns' and certain 'drengs' were associated in some way with the King's military organization. Many of them were probably quite simply hemthaegar, members of his household who acted as advisers, administrators, and commanders. And once a 'thegn', always a 'thegn'. After a period of service in attendance on the king, he remained a 'thegn' but was now a captain or colonel of the reserve. Some 'thegns' were probably given official functions in the countryside, at royal residences and on crown demesnes, bailiffs or revenue collectors or the like. Others likely returned to run their own family estates. This is the picture of 'thegns' that can be drawn from Anglo-Saxon parallels and the occurrence of the word in runic inscriptions. "It will be self-evident that 'thegns' were drawn from the best families in the country."

Bretwalda

Bretwalda, also Brytenwalda, Bretenanwealda, is an Anglo-Saxon term, the first record of which comes from the late ninth century Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. It is applied in that chronicle to some of the rulers of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms from the fifth century onwards who had achieved overlordship over some or all the other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. It is unclear if the word really dates back to the fifth century, or is a ninth century invention.

The rulers of MerciaMercia were generally the most powerful of the English kings from the mid-seventh to the early-ninth centuries. However they are not accorded the title of Bretwalda by the chronicle—which fact is usually assigned to anti-Mercian bias by its authors. Whether they used it themselves is again uncertain, though in many cases their power was even greater than those listed by the chronicle. It is notable that the Annals of Wales also continued to recognize Northumbrian rulers as King of the Saxons (i.e. English) until the death of Osred in 716.The term Bretwalda also appears in a charter of Æthelstan, king of the English. It appears in several variant forms (brytenwalda, bretenanwealda, &c.), and means most probably "lord of the Britons" or "lord of Britain"; for although the derivation of the word is uncertain, its earlier syllable seems to be cognate with the words Briton and Britannia. However Kemble derives Bretwalda from the Old English word breotan, to distribute, and translates it "widely ruling."[Bretwaldas

Listed by Bede and the Anglo-Saxon ChronicleAelle of Sussex (488–c.514)(break in sequence)Ceawlin of Wessex (560–91, died 593) Æthelberht of Kent (591–616)Rædwald of East Anglia (616–27)Edwin of Deira (627–32)Oswald of Bernicia (633–41)Oswy of Northumbria (641–58, died 670)

King of the Saxons, as listed by the Annals of WalesOswy of Northumbria (641-670)Aldfrith of Northumbria (685-705)Osred of Northumbria (705-716)Ethelbald of Mercia (716-757)

Mercian rulersWulfhere of Mercia (658-675)Æthelred of Mercia (675-704, died 716)Cœnred of Mercia (704-709, died ?)Ceolred of Mercia (709-716)Ceolwald of Mercia (716)Ethelbald of Mercia (716-757, proclaimed King of Britain 746) Beornred of Mercia (757, died ?)Offa of Mercia (757-796, proclaimed King of the English 774) Egfrith of Mercia (796)Cœnwulf of Mercia (796-821, proclaimed Emperor)Ceolwulf of Mercia (821-823, died ?)Beornwulf of Mercia (823-826)Ludeca of Mercia (826-827)Wiglaf of Mercia (827-829, died 840)

Listed only by the Anglo-Saxon ChronicleEgbert of Wessex (829–39)

Contemporary useThe entry for 827 in the [C] manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, listing the eight bretwaldas.The first recorded use of the term Bretwalda comes from a West Saxon Chronicle of the late 9th century applying the term to Ecgberht, who was King of Wessex from 802-839.[2] The chronicler also wrote down the names of seven kings Bede had listed in his Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum in 731.[3] All subsequent manuscripts of the Chronicle use Brytenwalda, whether it represents the original term or derives from a common error.There is no evidence that the term Bretwalda was a title that had any practical use, with implications of formal rights, powers and office, or even that it had any existence before the ninth-century chronicler. Bede wrote in Latin and never used the term, and his list of kings holding imperium should be treated with great caution, not least in that he overlooks kings such as Penda of Mercia who clearly held some kind of dominance in their time. Similarly, in his list of Bretwaldas, the West Saxon chronicler ignores Mercian kings such as Offa. It is unlikely that there was a succession and defined duties, and it is doubtful whether the term Bretwalda is anything more than a later simplification of a complex structure of kingship.Bretwalda is, therefore, a highly problematic term, and one which, if anything, was merely the attempt by a West Saxon chronicler to make some claim of West Saxon kings to the whole of Great Britain. This shows that the concept of the unity of Britain was at least recognised in the period, whatever was meant by the term. Quite possibly it was only a survival of a Roman concept of "Britain"; it is significant that, while the hyperbolic inscriptions on coins and titles in charters often include the title rex Britanniae, when England was actually unified the title used was rex Angulsaxonum, king of the Anglo-Saxons.

Modern interpretation by historiansFor some time the existence of the word Bretwalda in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which was based in part on the list given by Bede in his Historia Ecclesiastica, led historians to think that there was perhaps a "title" held by overlords of Great Britain. This was particularly attractive as it would lay the foundations for the establishment of an "English" monarchy. The twentieth-century historian Frank Stenton says of the Anglo-Saxon chronicler that "his inaccuracy is more than compensated by his preservation of the English title applied to these outstanding kings."[4] He goes on to argue that the term Bretwalda "falls into line with the other evidence which points to the Germanic origin of the earliest English institutions."Over the later twentieth century this assumption was increasingly challenged. Patrick Wormald interprets it as "less an objectively realized office than a subjectively perceived status" and emphasizes the partiality of its usage in favour of Southumbrian rulers.[5] In 1991, Steven Fanning argues, "It is unlikely that the term ever existed as a title or was in common usage in Anglo-Saxon England."[6] The fact that Bede never mentioned a special title for the kings in his list implies that he was unaware of one.[7] In 1995 Simon Keynes wrote, "if Bede's concept of the Southumbrian overlord, and the chronicler's concept of the 'Bretwalda', are to be regarded as artificial constructs, which have no validity outside the context of the literary works in which they appear, we are released from the assumptions about political development which they seem to involve...we might ask whether kings in the eighth and ninth centuries were quite so obsessed with the establishment of a pan-Southumbrian state."[8]Thus, more recent interpretations view the bretwaldaship as a complex concept. It is now recognized as an important indicator of how a ninth-century chronicler interpreted history and tried to insert the West Saxon kings, who were rapidly expanding their power at the time, into that history.

OverlordshipWhat did exist was a complex array of dominance and subservience. Examples such as a king granting land with charters in another kingdom, are a sure sign of such a relationship. When a king held sway over a larger kingdom, such as a Mercian ruler over East Anglia, the relationship would have been more equal than in the case of a larger kingdom exercising overlordship over a smaller one, as in the case of Mercia and Hwicce. Mercia was arguably the most powerful Anglo-Saxon kingdom for much of the late seventh and eighth centuries, though Mercian kings are missed out of the two main "lists". For Bede, Mercia was a traditional enemy of his native Northumbria, and he saw powerful Mercian kings such as Penda (a pagan) as standing in the way of the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons, and so does not include them in his list, even though it is evident that Penda held a considerable degree of power. Similarly, powerful Mercia kings such as Offa are missed out of the West Saxon Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which sought to demonstrate the legitimacy of the West Saxon kings to rule over other Anglo-Saxon peoples.

Other sourcesCharles-Edwards, T.M. "The continuation of Bede, s.a. 750. High-kings, kings of Tara and Bretwaldas." In Seanchas. Studies in early and medieval Irish archaeology, history and literature in honour of Francis J. Byrne, ed. Alfred P. Smyth. Dublin: Four Courts, 2000. 137-45.Dumville, D. "The Terminology of Overkingship in Early Anglo-Saxon England." In The Anglo-Saxons from the Migration period to the Eighth Century. An Ethnographic Perspective, ed. J. Hines (1997): 345-65Keynes, Simon. "Bretwalda." In The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England, ed. Michael Lapidge et al. Oxford, 1999.Kirby, D.P. The Making of Early England. London, 1967. Wormald, Patrick. "Bede, Beowulf and the conversion of the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy." In Bede and Anglo-Saxon England. Papers in honour of the 1300th anniversary of the birth of Bede, ed. R.T. Farrell. BAR, British series 46. 1978. 32-95. Yorke, Barbara. "The vocabulary of Anglo-Saxon overlordship." Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History 2 (1981): 171-200.

Kings of the Isle of Wight

Kings of the Isles of WightThe Isle of Wight is a 147-square-mile (380 km2) island off the south coast of England. The first Kings of the Isle of Wight were recorded by St Bede in 512CE as Stuf and Wihtgar,the nephews of Cerdic, the founder of the Wessex dynasty, then known as the "Allies" or "Gewisse". However, the name for the "Men of Wight" was "Wihtwara" and their fort "Wihtwarasburgh". Hence it is conjectured (by Stenton, Yorke et al.) that Wihtgar was a made-up name to account for this. Although the dynasty has never been given a name, presumably they would be named after their founder - as the kings of Kent and East Anglia were (the "Oiscings" and "Wuffings" respectively after Oisc and after Wuffa).Hence the Isle of Wight dynasty may have been the "Stuffings".The subsequent kings are unknown until the final King, who died in 686CE. In 661CE Wulfhere of Mercia conquered Wessex and gave the overlordship to his godson, King Aethelwalh of Sussex and forced the Islanders to convert to Christianity. Upon Wulfhere's departure the Island returned to paganism. The last Jutish King and the last pagan king in England was King Arwald, about which we only know that he was killed resisting the invasion by King Caedwalla of Wessex, under the tutelage of St. Wilfrid and that Caedwalla later died of his wounds sustained in action. According to Bede, Caedwalla "endeavoured to destroy all the inhabitants thereof" and replaced them with his own followers. The only known survivor of the Jutes was Arwald's sister, whose name is unknown, but was at this time married to Egbert King of Kent, another Jute engaged in fighting off Caedwalla and his brother,Mul. She was an ancestor of Alfred the Great.After the Norman Conquest the Isle of Wight was given to the de Redvers family in 1101 who were known as "Lords of the Isle of Wight". However the last of them was Isabella de Fortibus(1237-1293) who was known as the Queen of the Isle of Wight until her death. Upon her death bed she was visited by the King, Edward Longshanks, later known as "Edward I" who said that she had sold the Isle of Wight to him whilst on the point of death for 6,000 marks in 1293. Henry VI had a favourite courtier named Henry Beauchamp, Duke of Warwick, to whom he gave the honorific title, or perhaps nickname would be more accurate, "King of the Isle of Wight" in 1444, although this does not appear to have entailed any other implication, and he died shortly after.

Chronological List of the Kings of East Anglia

This is a chronological list of the monarchs of East Anglia, formally known as The Kingdom of the East Angles, one of the seven traditional kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was founded in the 6th century and ceased being independent in 918, having been conquered by Wessex, another member of the Heptarchy.Many of the dates of this time are considered unreliable, often being based on computation from known dates. Regnal years may be counted twice, since all or part of a year may be attributed: for instance, the period attributed below to Ricberht (the East Anglian apostasy) is said by the contemporary author Bede to have lasted for three years, and is computed allowing all or part of the years 627, 628 and 629 to this interregnum or unknown reign.The names are given in modern English form, followed by the names and titles (as far as is known) in contemporaneous Anglo-Saxon English and Latin, being the recorded languages of the time. Note that the title 'REX' is not recorded specifically for any East Anglian ruler before Rædwald: the earlier names derive from the genealogical tally (not regnal list) in the Anglian Collection and the Historia Britonum. They are normally styled rulers of the East Angle people (Angli Orientales), not of East Anglia (Anglia Orientalis). The title Rex Anglorum is used of Rædwald, and Rex Ang. (indeterminate, probably Anglorum) of Aethelstan and Eadmund in their coinage.This was a time when spellings varied widely, even within a document. A number of variations of the details below exist. Amongst these are the preference between þ and ð (voiceless and voiced th).A character resembling '7' (the so-called Tironian et) was used as the ampersand '&' in contemporary Anglo-Saxon writings. The era pre-dates the emergence of forms of writing accepted today, notably minuscule, and the letters 'W' and 'U'. Where W was followed by U this was generally rendered as 'VV' (which was also used for 'W' alone).For a graphical chart of the first kings, see this family tree. List of the Kings of the East Angles Reign Incumbent Contemporary title Notes ??? to ???Wehha VVEHHA VVILHELMING ESTANGLE CYNINGVVEHHA REX ANGLORVM ORIENTALIVM 'The first to rule over the East Angles' (Historia Britonum) ante 571 to 578 Wuffa VVFFA VVEHHING ESTANGLE CYNINGVVFFA REX ANGLORVM ORIENTALIVM Eponymous ancestor of the Wuffing dynasty, 'ruling' in 571 (Roger of Wendover) 578 to 599 Tytila TYTTLA VVFFINGTYTTLA REX ANGLORVM ORIENTALIVM 'Took up the helm of the kingdom' (Roger of Wendover) 599 to 624 Rædwald RÆDVVALD TYTTLING ESTANGLE CYNINGRÆDVVALD REX ANGLORVM ORIENTALIVM Imperium; Rex Anglorum (Bede). Bretwalda (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle). 617 to 618 Eni ENI TYTTLING ESTANGLE CYNINGENI REX ANGLORVM ORIENTALIVM not known to have reigned c.624 to c.627 Eorpwald EORPVVALD RÆDVVALDING ESTANGLE CYNINGEORPVVALD REX ANGLORUM ORIENTALIUM Murdered by Ricberht. c.627 to c.629 Ricberht RICBRYHT REX ANGLORUM ORIENTALIUM not known to have reigned c.629 to ?634 Sigeberht SIGEBRYHT RÆDVVALDING ESTANGLE CYNINGSIGEBRYHT REX ANGLORVM ORIENTALIVM Joint king with Ecgric; abdicated; Slain in battle; Saint Sigeberht.Son or Stepson of Rædwald. ante 634 to ?636 Ecgric ECGRIC ESTANGLE CYNINGECGRIC REX ANGLORVM ORIENTALIVM Slain in battle; kinsman of Sigeberhtpresumed son of Rædwald or Eni. 636 to 654 Anna ANNA ENING ESTANGLE CYNINGANNA REX ANGLORVM ORIENTALIVM Slain in battle 654 to 15 November 654 Æthelhere ÆÞELHERE ENING ESTANGLE CYNINGÆÞELHERE REX ANGLORVM ORIENTALIVM late 654 to 664 Æthelwold ÆTHELVVOLD ENING ESTANGLE CYNINGÆÞELVVOLD REX ANGLORVM ORIENTALIVM 663 or 664 to 713 Ealdwulf EALDVVLF ESTANGLE CYNINGEALDVVLF REX ANGLORVM ORIENTALIVM c.713 to 749 Ælfwald ÆLFVVALD ESTANGLE CYNINGÆLFVVALD REX ANGLORVM ORIENTALIVM 749 to ? Hun HVN ANGLORUM ORIENTALIUM Joint ruler (possibly mythic) 749 to c.760 Beorna BEORNA ESTANGLE CYNINGBEORNA REX ANGLORVM ORIENTALIVM Joint king 749 to ? Alberht ALBERHT ANGLORVM ORIENTALIVM Joint ruler; also known as Æthelberht I ?c.760 to ?c.779 Æthelred I ÆÞELRED ESTANGLE CYNINGÆÞELRED REX ANGLORVM ORIENTALIVM Possibly mythic ?779 to 794 Æthelberht II ÆÞELBRYHT ESTANGLE CYNINGÆÞELBRYHT REX ANGLORVM ORIENTALIVM Saint Æthelbert.Executed at the command of Offa Mercian Dynasty c.760 to 796 Offa OFFA ÞINCFRIÞING MIERCNA 7 ESTANGLE CYNINGOFFA REX MERCIA ET ANGLIÆ ORIENTALISOFFA REX ANGLORVM Held dominion over East Angles East Anglian Dynasty after 794 to ? Eadwald EADVVALD ESTANGLE CYNINGEADVVALD REX ANGLORVM ORIENTALIVM Mercian Dynasty c.796 to 821 Coenwulf COENVVLF MIERCNA 7 ESTANGLE CYNINGCOENVVLF REX MERCIA ET ANGLIÆ ORIENTALIS Held dominion over East Angles 821 to 823 Ceolwulf COELVVLF MIERCNA 7 ESTANGLE CYNINGCOELVVLF REX MERCIA ET ANGLIÆ ORIENTALIS Held dominion over East Angles 823 to 826 Beornwulf BEORNVVLF MIERCNA 7 ESTANGLE CYNINGBEORNVVLF REX MERCIA ET ANGLIÆ ORIENTALIS Held dominion over East Angles East Anglian Dynasty c.821 to c.839 Æthelstan ÆÞELSTAN ESTANGLE CYNINGÆÞELSTAN REX ANGLORVM ORIENTALIVM styled Rex Anglorum (coins) c.839 to 855 Æthelweard ÆÞELVVEARD ESTANGLE CYNINGÆÞELVVEARD REX ANGLORVM ORIENTALIVM 855 to 20 November 870 Eadmund EADMVND ESTANGLE CYNINGEADMVND REX ANGLORVM ORIENTALIVM Martyred; Saint Edmund.Styled Rex Anglorum (coins) Sub-kings under Norse Suzerainty 870 to 876 Oswald OSVVALD ESTANGLE CYNINGOSVVALD REX ANGLIÆ ORIENTALIS Died 876 876 to 879 Æthelred II ÆÞELRED ESTANGLE CYNINGÆÞELRED REX ANGLIÆ ORIENTALIS Replaced by Alfred the Great of Wessex in 879 879 to 890 Guthrum the Old AÞELSTAN ESTANGLE CYNINGAÞELSTAN REX ANGLIÆ ORIENTALIS Norse ruler Guthrum the Old, took name Æthelstan at baptism 890 to 902 Eohric(Eohric) ERIC ESTANGLE CYNINGERIC REX ANGLIÆ ORIENTALIS Killed in battle December 902 902? Æthelwold of Wessex AÞELWALD ESTANGLE CYNINGAÞELWALD REX ANGLIÆ ORIENTALIS Killed in battle December 902? 902 to 916 Guthrum II GUTHRUM ESTANGLE CYNINGGUTHRUM REX ANGLIÆ ORIENTALIS Killed in battle 916After 917, East Anglia was under the rule of Wessex, with subsequent rulers downgraded to the status of Earl of East Anglia.

Wuffing Dynasty

The Wuffings Dynasty

The Wuffings were the ruling dynasty of East Anglia. They took their name from the early East Anglian king Wuffa. Due to the strong Scandinavian connections revealed in their graves at Sutton Hoo, (Newton 1993) has argued that they were probably a branch of the Geatish Wulfing dynasty.The following family tree includes all kings of East Anglia from 560 until 749 except for the usurper Ricberht.After 749 East Anglia was ruled either by the Mercians or by kings whose genealogy is not known.

BibliographyNewton, S., 1993. The Origins of Beowulf and the Pre-Viking Kingdom of East Anglia. Cambridge

Green Jackets: Tongue

Sharpe

Fictional Army Regiments

The South Essex Regiment, later the Prince of Wales' Own Volunteers, is a fictional infantry regiment in the British Army that was created by Bernard Cornwell in the Sharpe series of books.It first appeared in Sharpe's Eagle, commanded by Colonel Sir Henry Simmerson. Sharpe was transferred to the South Essex when his previous regiment, the 95th Rifles, was withdrawn back to England, and made a captain shortly after the battle of Valdelacasa in which the South Essex and the Spanish Regimenta de Santa Maria were badly mauled by French cavalry. In this action, the South Essex lost the King's and the regimental Colours and the Regimenta de Santa Maria lost both of its colours as well. However, Sharpe recaptured the South Essex's regimental Colours and so recovered some honour. Simmerson tried to ruin Sharpe's career (and save himself) by blaming the loss of the Colours on Sharpe.After Simmerson showed ill judgement and cowardice at the Battle of Talavera (where Sharpe captured a French Imperial Eagle, which then went on to be displayed on the regiment's Colours), Colonel William Lawford, an old friend of Sharpe's, took command. Lawford was wounded soon after and the South Essex went through a string of colonels.In Sharpe's Regiment, the South Essex is renamed the Prince of Wales' Own Volunteers (in reality, the Prince of Wales' Volunteers was (or is) the South Lancashire Regiment). When the regiment returns to Spain it is commanded by Colonel Bartholomew Girdwood, who suffers a breakdown during an attack into French soil. Sharpe leaves the regiment soon after, and Colonel Joseph Ford takes command. The regiment does not appear again until the Battle of Waterloo, where Sharpe and Sergeant Patrick Harper save the regiment from the advance of Napoleon's Old Guard at the end of the battle, where Sharpe is finally given command of the regiment by the Duke of Wellington.

Battle honoursThis is a rough list of battle honours that it is likely the regiment would have gained during the Sharpe Series:Talavera, 1809,Busaco, 1810,Ciudad Rodrigo, 1812,Badajoz, 1812,Salamanca, 1812,Vittoria, 1813,Pyrenees, 1813,Toulouse, 1814,Peninsula, 1808-1814,Waterloo, 1815.

The regiment's fate after Waterloo is unknown. It is likely to have been disbanded due to its high regimental number (this is stated in the Sharpe Companion) but it could have been merged with the 44th Regiment of Foot or the East Essex which lost many men at Quatre Bras. In the latter case it would have become the Essex Regiment under the Cardwell Reforms and the battalion carrying its traditions would have been disbanded and the honours continued. This is of course speculation, but there are several similarities between the East and South Essex - both captured French Imperial Eagles, both have yellow coat facings, and they share a county designation.

Regimental ColonelsThis is a rough list of the colonels of the regiment described in the books and the period they served as colonel. There are gaps where colonels are not known in the books. The Prince Regent, later George IV was the colonel in chief and added his patronage in 1813. Sir Henry Simmerson (1809) was the first Colonel, raised the regiment and led it on its first campaign. Relieved from command by the next colonel,William Lawford (1809-1812) who commanded the regiment during the Portugal campaign before being wounded at Ciudad Rodrigo. The regiment would then be commanded by a former staff officer of General Sir Thomas Picton,Colonel Windham from the siege and storming of Badajoz until his death shortly before the Battle of Salamanca (1812). It is then commanded by the American expatriateLieutenant Colonel Thomas Leroy until his death at the Battle of Vitoria (1813).Lieutenant Colonel Bartholomew Girdwood would then assume command of the now renamed Prince of Wales Own Volunteers until his mental breakdown at the Battle of the Nivelle (1813).Sharpe would be in effective command until the French capitulation at the Battle of Toulouse (1814).The regiment is reformed after Napoleon's escape from Elba and the resumption of hostilities and is commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Ford until his mental collapse under fire at Waterloo, where Wellington gives command of the regiment to Sharpe where they assist in defeating the Old Guard.

List of fictional British regiments The following is a list of British and Empire regiments that have appeared in various works of fiction.

British RegimentsNumbered United Kingdom Regiments3rd Foot and Mouth Regiment ("The Devils in Skirts") (A Highland Regiment mentioned in Carry On up the Khyber 1968 film.3rd Regular Army Deserters,3rd Disgusting Fusiliers,3rd Armoured Thunderboxes, and3rd Mounted NAAFI are examples of the regiments that Major Bloodnok (played by Peter Sellers of The Goon Show) claimed to have served with. 6th Light Dragoons (A Close Run Thing by Allan Mallinson) 27th Lancers (The Charge of the Light Brigade 1936 film) - later a real regiment114th Queen's Own Royal Strathspeys [The James Ogilvie books] by Philip McCutchan aka Duncan MacNeil {Also repeated below}117th Foot ("The Royal Mallows") (An Irish regiment mentioned in The Adventure of the Crooked Man and The Green Flag by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. A real regiment that only existed from 1761 to 1796, sans nickname}. Named regimentsThe Bedford Light Infantry (Red Cap BBC-1 TV series 2001-2004)The Black Boneens A rival Irish regiment mentioned in "The Mutiny of the Mavericks" by Rudyard Kipling.The Black Tyrone An Irish regiment serving in India mentioned in "The Ballad of Boh da Thone" by Rudyard Kipling.Bombardier Guards (The Book of Snobs by William Makepeace Thackeray; Put Out More Flags by Evelyn Waugh)Caledonian Highlanders (Bonnie Scotland 1935 film {Laurel and Hardy})The Cumbrians (Duke of Rutland's Own) (Soldier Soldier TV series 1991-1997)The Derbyshire Regiment (Red Cap BBC-1 TV Series 2001-2004)The Dragons (Heathercrest National Service Depot) Regiment (Carry On Sergeant 1958 film {Carry On films})Duke of Buckingham's Light Infantry ("The Sky Blues") (Gideon's Sword Bearers by John Mackenzie (author))Duke of Clarence's Own Clanranald Highlanders ("The Inverness-shire Greens") (The Monarch of the Glen by Compton Mackenzie)The Duke of Glendon's Light Infantry (The 'Dogs') (The Way Ahead 1944 Film)The Fore and Fit Princess Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen-Anspach’s Merther-Tydfilshire Own Royal Loyal Light Infantry, Regimental District 329A ("The Fore and Aft" Regiment) ("Drums of the Fore and Aft" by Rudyard Kipling)King's Own Fusiliers (Soldier Soldier TV series 1991-1997) Lennox Highlanders (Richard Hannay's regiment in the works of John Buchan)Jackboot Guards (The Book of Snobs by William Makepeace Thackeray)Life Guards Greens (various novels by William Makepeace Thackeray)The nickname of the short-lived Horse-Grenadier Troops of the Life Guards. Light Armoured Brigade (Thursday Next novels by Jasper Fforde)Loamshire Regiment (Bulldog Drummond by "Sapper")Royal Loamshire Regiment (A fictitious regiment used in British Army texts and manuals as an example.)1st Battalion, The Loamshire Regiment (The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp 1943 film)5th Battalion, The Loamshire Regiment (Men at Arms by Evelyn Waugh)Lord Sempill’s Highland Regiment (A unit that mutinied mentioned in Gideon's Swordbearers by John Mackenzie)The Malvern Regiment (Soldier Soldier TV series 1991-1997) Northdale Rifles (The Mark of Cain 2007 TV film)Queen's Own McKamikaze Highlanders (Monty Python's Flying Circus TV comedy series)114th Queen's Own Royal Strathspeys [The James Ogilvie books] by Philip McCutchan aka Duncan MacNeil {ALso repeated above}Queen's Own West Mercian Lowlanders (Fairly Secret Army TV comedy series)Royal Cambrian Fusiliers (Red Cap BBC-1 TV Series 2001-2004)Royal Corps of Halberdiers (The Sword of Honour Trilogy by Evelyn Waugh)Royal Cumbrian Regiment (The Four Feathers by A.E.W. Mason)The Royal Loyal Musketeers ("The Mavericks") An Irish regiment mentioned in "Kim" and "The Mutiny of the Mavericks" by Rudyard KiplingRoyal North Surrey Regiment {The Four Feathers 1939 Film} Royal Wessex Rangers (Spearhead British TV series 1978-1981)South Essex Regiment/Prince of Wales' Own Volunteers (Richard Sharpe's regiment in the Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell)Weald Light Infantry (Now God be Thanked trilogy by John Masters).Wessex Guards (Pigeon Pie by Nancy Mitford) Wessex Fusiliers (Alms for Oblivion - a series of novels by Simon Raven)Wessex Light Tank Armoured Brigade (The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde)The Wessex Regiment (Red Cap BBC-1 TV Series 2001-2004) West Yorkshire Fusiliers (The Wyffies) Various of Reginald Hill's Dalziel and Pascoe crime novels.The White Hussars "The Rout of the White Hussars" by Rudyard Kipling

British Empire Regiments1st Bangalore Pioneers (Colonel Sebastian Moran's old Indian Army regiment in The Adventure of the Empty House by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)12th Gurkha Rifles (Colonel Arbuthnot's regiment in Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie)12th Indian Lancers (Major Duncan Bleek's regiment in Terror by Night 1946 film {Sherlock Holmes}).19th/45th East African Rifles (Captain Blackadder's old colonial regiment before the war in Blackadder Goes Forth) 34th Bombay Infantry (Major John Sholto's regiment in The Sign of Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)77th Bengal Lancers (Tales of the 77th Bengal Lancers American TV show 1956-1957).

Special Operations UnitsInternal Counter-Intelligence Service UNIT audio dramas by Big Finish set in the (Doctor Who) universe. U.N.I.T. (Doctor Who)Red Troop, 22nd Special Air Service Regiment (Ultimate Force TV series 2002-2006)

Bernard Cornwell

Rifle

Sharpe Music

Over the Hills and Far Away

The Album: Sharpe's Music to the Television Series

Over the Hills & Far Away: The Music of Sharpe was released in 1996 as a companion to the Sharpe television series. The recording features performances by various artists, including British folk musicians John Tams (who played a supporting role in the series and wrote or arranged much of its music) and Kate Rusby, composer Dominic Muldowney, and The Band and Bugles of the Light Division, performing traditional songs along with selections of original music from the programmes.

Sharpe Song: Over the Hills and Far Away (Traditional)

Over the Hills and Far Away" is a traditional English song, dating back to at least the early 1700s. One version was published in Thomas D'Urfey's Pills to Purge Melancholy in 1706, a very different one appeared in George Farquhar's play The Recruiting Officer. A version also appears in John Gay's The Beggar's Opera of 1728.The words have changed over the years, as can be seen in the versions below. The only consistent element in early versions is the title line and the tune. D'Urfey's and Gay's versions both refer to lovers, while Farquhar's version refers to fleeing oveseas to join the army. The tune was provided with another set of lyrics for the Sharpe movies, based on Farquhar's version. This version was also recorded by John Tams who played Dan Hagman in the series.The nursery rhyme "Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son" mentions a piper who knows only one tune, this one. "Over the Hills and Far Away" is also the name of a novel by Candida Lycett Green (2002).

War memorialsThe Royal Military College of Canada Memorial Arch includes the text "Hark now the drums beat up again for all true Soldiers Gentlemen" on the inside top right face.

D'Urfey lyricsJocky met with Jenny fairAft by the dawning of the day;But Jockey now is fu' of careSince Jenny staw his heart away.Altho' she promis'd to be trueShe proven has, alake! unkindWhich gars poor Jockey aften rueThat e'er he loo'd a fickle mind.Tis o'er the hills and far awayTis o'er the hills and far awayTis o'er the hills and far awayThe wind has blown my Plad (sic) away

Since that she will nae pity takeI maun gae wander for her sakeAnd, in ilk wood and gloomy groveI'll, sighing, sing," Adieu to love.Since she is fause whom I adoreI'll never trust a woman more;Frae a' their charms I'll flee awayAnd on my pipes I'll sweetly play," O'er hills and dales and far awayO'er hills and dales and far away O'er hills and dales and far awayThe wind has blawn my plad away.

George Farquhar lyricsA version of the lyrics by George Farquhar for his play The Recruiting Officer from 1706.

Our 'prentice Tom may now refuseTo wipe his scoundrel Master's Shoes,For now he's free to sing and playOver the Hills and far away.Over the Hills and O'er the Main,To Flanders, Portugal and Spain,The queen commands and we'll obeyOver the Hills and far away.We all shall lead more happy livesBy getting rid of brats and wivesThat scold and bawl both night and day -Over the Hills and far away.Over the Hills and O'er the Main,To Flanders, Portugal and Spain,The queen commands and we'll obeyOver the Hills and far away.

Courage, boys, 'tis one to ten,But we return all gentlemenAll gentlemen as well as they,Over the hills and far away.Over the Hills and O'er the Main,To Flanders, Portugal and Spain,The queen commands and we'll obeyOver the Hills and far away.

John Gay lyricsIn The Beggar's Opera the song is a duet between the antihero Macheath and his lover Polly. It is a romantic dream of escape, with no military references.MACHEATH:Were I laid on Greenland's Coast, And in my Arms embrac'd my Lass; Warm amidst eternal Frost, Too soon the Half Year's Night would pass.POLLY:Were I sold on Indian Soil, Soon as the burning Day was clos'd, I could mock the sultry Toil When on my Charmer's Breast repos'd.MACHEATH:And I would love you all the Day,POLLY:Every Night would kiss and play,MACHEATH:If with me you'd fondly strayPOLLY:Over the Hills and far awayhttp://www.sharpe.ucoz.ru/

Saxon Soldiers

plenty of kings

Anglo-Saxon Warfare

The period of Anglo-Saxon warfare spans the 5th Century C.E. to the 11th in England. Its technology and tactics resemble those of other European cultural areas of the Early Middle Ages.There are extant contemporary descriptions of some Anglo-Saxon battles. Of particular relevance are the poems recounting the battles of Brunanburh, fought in 937 C.E. and Maldon, fought in 991 C.E.In the literature, most of the references to weapons and fighting concern the use of javelins.The typical battle-development involved both sides forming shield walls to protect against the launching of missiles, and standing slightly out of range of each other. Then, individual warriors would run forward from the ranks to gain velocity for their javelin throws. This made them vulnerable due to their being exposed, having left the protection of the shield wall, and there was a chance of being killed by a counter throw from the other side. The disciplined volley-throwing of javelins, followed by an immediate charge home as practiced by the Romans seems not to have been common, likely due to the non-professional, levied nature of armies of the time. This is epitomized in the following excerpt:So then did Aethelgar's child enbolden them all, Godric to battle. Often he sent forth spears, deadly shaft sped away onto the Vikings thus he on this people went out in front of battle, cutting down and smiting, until he too on the battlefield perished.(Battle of Maldon. 320-4.)

If killed in the 'no man's land', someone from the other side might rush out to retrieve the valuable armour and weapons, such as extra javelins, sword, shield and so on from the corpse. The one best positioned to retrieve the body was often the thrower of the fatal javelin as he had run forward of his shield wall too in order to make his throw. Exposing himself like this, and even more so during his attempt to retrieve the slain's gear, was a great mark of bravery and could result in much valuable personal gain, not only in terms of his professional career as a retainer, but also in material wealth if the equipment were worth a lot.Due to the very visible and exposed nature of these javelin-throwing duels, we have some detailed descriptions which have survived, such as the following passage. The first part describes thrown javelin duels, and the latter part describes fighting over the corpses' belongings.

Advanced again to fierce battle, weapons raised up, shields to defense, and towards these warriors they stepped. Resolute they approached Earl to the lowest Yeoman: each of them intent on harm for the enemy. Sent then a sea-warrior a spear of southern make that wounded the warrior lord. He thrust then with his shield such that the spear shaft burst, and that spear-head shattered as it sprang in reply. Enraged became that warrior: with anger he stabbed that proud Viking who had given him that wound. Experienced was that warrior; he threw his spear forward through the warrior's neck, his hand guiding so that he this ravager's life would fatally pierce. Then he with another stab speedily pierced the ravager so that the chainmail coat broke: this man had a breast wound cut through the linked rings; through his heart stuck a deadly spear. The Earl was the better pleased: laughed then this great man of spirit, thanking the Creator for the day's work which the Lord had given him. And so then another warrior a spear from the other side flew out of hand, which deeply struck through the noble Aethelred's retainer. To him by his side stood a young man not fully grown, a youth on the battlefield, who valiantly pulled out of this warrior the bloody spear, Wulfstan's child, Wulfmaer the younger; and so with blinding speed came the shaft in reply. The spear penetrated, for that who on the Earth now lay among his people, the one who had sorely pierced. Went then armed a man to this Earl; he desirous of this warrior's belongings to take off with, booty and rings and an ornamental sword. Then Byrhtnoth drew his sword from its sheath broad and bright of blade, and then struck the man's coat of mail. But too soon he was prevented by a certain sea-scavenger, and then the Earl's arm was wounded. Fall then to the ground with his gold-hilted sword: his grip unable to hold the heavy sword, or wield the weapon.(Battle of Maldon. 130-58.)

Sometimes individuals or groups fighting over bodies might come to sword blows between the two shield walls. At close quarters, swords and shields were preferred over thrusting spears. Ideally, however, enough damage would be done to the enemy through the launching of missiles, so that any shield-to-shield fighting would be a mopping-up operation rather than an exhausting and risky push back and forth at close quarters.However, when there were fewer javelins handy to throw or to throw back at the enemy, and no side had yet turned and fled, the battle could come to close order combat with sword and shield.The shield was used as much for offense as the sword was, to unbalance and push the opponent down, making him vulnerable to being stabbed, kicked and cut, and to thereby open a breach in the shield wall exposing those of his mates on either side of him to unprotected death. Hacking through shields was often a sound tactic, so having a strong sword arm and a sturdy sword were of great benefit for the fight. At the initial rushing together of the ranks, jumping forward into the enemy with the shield held in front was a preferred tactic, as was leaping up, resting a foot on the opponent's shield boss, and striking or stabbing the enemy's unprotected back with one's sword.Understanding how battles were fought also helps us to understand why excelling in certain sports was considered the mark of a valuable retainer or war leader. Sports like running, jumping, throwing spears, and unbalancing people (i.e. wrestling) were all critical skills for combat. Heroes like the legendary Beowulf are described as champions in such athletic events.Anglo-Saxon military organization is difficult to analyze. This is because there are many contrasting records, as well as many debates by modern historians as to the precise occurrences and procedures. Anglo-Saxon England was known for its tumultuous nature and the constant presence of outside threats and dangers made it necessary for a solid military to constantly be in place. Even though there is some controversy as to the accurate forms of military organization, one is able to deduce some aspects of from the records that have been preserved. Though the clarity of the military organization has been lost, it is still very prominent in Anglo-Saxon society.

Tactics and StrategiesThere were many tactics and strategies that were used. There was a division between armies who fought on land and on sea. In some instances, the two would combine their efforts to provide a more effective defense against the approaching armies. In this instance, the water-borne fyrds would strategically place their seamen on the shore or would arm themselves to provide a suitable defense towards the oncoming attackers.Anglo-Saxon land battle tactics have also spawned much debate. The conflict lies in how the armies fought. Some historians believe that horses were used, though most argue that the battles took place on foot. Infantry battles are reported in many texts from the period, though it is also written.The strength of the Anglo-Saxon army is another issue which cannot be agreed upon by scholars. Some believe that the army was weak and only used infantry as a means of defense and battle; whereas others believe that the army was much more powerful, employing both infantry and cavalry. The former argument suggests that the infantry was great but did not have very much power. The Anglo-Saxons did not carry many strong weapons, but they did have archers as their early literature relates. Also, only some of the men who were sent to battle (specifically the select fyrd) were actually trained to fight. Because of this a lot of Anglo-Saxon fighting is seen as having been disorganized and fruitless.There are some battles in which scholars generally agree on which tactics and methods were used. The Battle of Hastings, in 1066, demonstrates some interesting military tactics. At Hastings, the soldiers were organized in such a fashion that the best soldiers were in the front line, and the less adequate fighters in the following lines. They formed a tightly packed wall, protecting the areas behind them. Though this seems like a rather ineffective method, it was in fact rather effective at repelling the Norman Cavalry. This strategy was also used in the battle of Sherston in 1016, only with a slight difference. Instead of simply standing in a solitary position, the army moved to the opposing line as a large solid group. They moved very slowly and managed to maintain their formation while advancing on the enemy. This tactic was further developed and used in the crusades. The same procedure would take place, however at an eventual point in the advance; a hole would open in the wall of soldiers to allow a charge of cavalry to attack the opposition. Military tactics did develop gradually throughout the Anglo-Saxon period. Though there is still much debate as to how efficient the soldiers and the fighting was, it is clear that as the ages progressed, so to did the power and intelligence of the army.